Hey everyone, we're back from break. Hope everyone enjoyed lunch and we're getting right into CRA. Good afternoon, mayor and council, city manager. Um, I want to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak today and not being the one keeping people between the workshop and lunch earlier. So, this works out well. Um, we're going to provide you a few updates today. Next month, we will be having our annual CRA report. um get provided to you at a meeting on March 23rd which will be an incredibly comprehensive update of the activities that go on that that report is a requirement of Florida statute chapter 163. So the update today is kind of related to the things we're doing here with the workshop and some things going around in this city. So as you recall we have multiple CRAAS in the city and I'm going to break down my update um within each of those individual areas. A key component of um having a CRA is generating tiff revenue. Um and that tiff revenue is based on the increase in taxable value between the base year that each CRA was created and the current taxable value um for that this year. So um on this screen it does show that the total taxable value in all the CRAAS is just under $2.2 billion. The revised original CRA is comprised of the original CRA along uh US1 including Village Green that we talked about before lunchtime, East Lake Village. That area has recognized a a modest increase in taxable value um since its inception in the early 2000s. We do anticipate that that will increase as the development of Walton and one comes on board. So this is an overview of Walton and one and then the master plan as contemplated and approved by city council a few years ago. A few uh components I'm going to speak of today is one the acquisition of the um St. Lucy County Tax Collector Annex building. Um a brief update on the RFP for the hotel site as well as a stadium update. So, the city closed on the acquisition of the tax collector building in December of 2025. Um, the county is leasing back that property until they um are able to complete their build out of their new site just up the road. So, during this time, we are doing space planning for our transition of multiple city departments. The building itself is in great condition, so we look forward to hopefully minimal um activity needing to happen for our team to transition. Um the second is the hotel site. Uh we are now officially in the cone of silence since the um advertisement went out on Tuesday of this week. So you can quietly read the criteria that's up on the screen. Um but that will is set to close on April 17th. The third is a brief update on the um stadium site. We have uh continued to work towards the target kickoff for the March 2027 that aligns with the USL season. Our stadium project team which is compris comprised of individuals from every city department as well as um the development team, the fire district. We've been meeting bi-weekly on alternate bi-weeks. our infrastructure team and utilities have been meeting with the development team as well. So, we're working through um all the things that are necessary for them to complete their conceptual plan that will translate into their site plan which will be coming forward to city council for approval. Uh you received a pretty great update from our village green drive project team before lunchtime. So, I just wanted to keep that slide in there. Um and transitioning over to East Lake Village, which again is now incorporated within the revised original area. We have uh very minimal buildout remaining in that area, which is about I think five single family lots and a couple of u multif family buildings within there. There is still the site adjacent to Leonard um in Hillmore, which is intended to be a mixeduse um site and that's actively being marketed. So shifting over to the port district, we've again re um recognized a modest um increase in in value. We do anticipate that to increase um as we um develop the remaining part of the port district park site with the restaurants. Uh before I get into that though, we do have our preserve tracked with the u ribbon cutting on Wednesday, March 4th at 4:00. So another great connection. And I know that um Zach provided an update earlier in our workshop on that and the restaurant itself. So in working with our restaurant developer, they anticipate to mobilize on site at the middle of March. Um and then starting construction shortly thereafter. Once they do start construction, they do expect a 14-month construction timeline. Plus, there's a startup phase. As you may um acknowledge, there are um requirements with the state and health department and things like that and getting their teams trained up to be able to open. They are anticipating a phased construction. So, the tiki bar, the main restaurant and and a few of the quads would be developed with the first phase and then they would evaluate um with their group on how the second phase would get uh built. But they are going to put in the required infrastructure when they do the first phase. I know I have some notes here based on the conversation yesterday about parking. Um so I I did miss misspeak slightly yesterday. I stated 333 spots. Um for the middle tract and the botanical gardens combined it's 365 I'm sorry 365 plus the maintenance area. So that's kind of a separate parking area. So we have a little bit more parking than I indicated. Um we also have the um acquisition of Bridge Plaza. We have not closed on that out parcel yet. We anticipate that that um will result in 90 or I'm sorry 62 spaces for that. Um and the city manager did mention the opportunity to look at some sort of lift or some sort of structure uh parking opportunity and we will evaluate that. But I think just in our initial project um we looked at that potentially being over at Tom Hooper where it's not right in the gateway of coming into the court district. We also have at Tom Hooper, we have 45 parking spaces. And then over at Veterans Park at Rivergate Boat Ramp, we have um it's about 98 car spaces. That includes the the trailer spacing uh parking spaces in there as well. >> Dave, >> Jen, um what kind of agreement do we have with the botanical gardens as far as their parking spaces? because I know um at times the historical society was going to have event there and they wanted to use their spaces and the people at the histo uh botanical gardens had a fit about it. So what agreements do we have or how tell me explain that to me how that works. So, and I I know Brad's here from Parks and Reck and has been involved with botanical gardens a lot um longer than I have, but um you know, one of the things we looked at the development of the middle tract site, which is the kind of the park site where the houses are and the the playground was that um you know, we would look at the entire site, including the botanical gardens, as one large area, not that there was this parking and that parking. It was all shared from the site, which is evidenced by the relocation of the gate that used to be there. um when you would go in towards the botanical gardens, there used to be a rolling gate that got relocated so that it did open up the um the parking area for everyone. So, I don't believe unless um Brad can state otherwise, I don't believe there's any dedicated parking for any of the facilities. It was always intended for shared parking. I also um there was some comments yesterday about the the hours of operation and kind of how that would work. So, um, based on the information that's out there right now, the botanical gardens, uh, closes at 5:00 p.m. every day. They're not open on Mondays, but every day they close at 5:00 p.m. And the museum itself, um, is open, um, only until 4:00 during the week and 3:00 on Saturdays. So, we don't really anticipate there to be um, any crossover in traffic um, with that, it being a problem with restaurants. Um, and one last uh point on this was that we are looking at transportation service options. Um, whether that's a trolley, some sort of trolley system for the east side that could uh move people between not only the port district but over towards Walton and one and provide some circulation there. Um, as well as I mentioned u potentially structured parking over at Tom Hooper. >> Madam Mayor, >> yes, I think the I'm glad we got the times. I obviously they could open they could choose once the restaurant is open to open later because they'll know they'll have more traffic coming in and I wouldn't be surprised. I think we need to do modeling for weekend traffic because obviously you know the restaurants there, the park's going to be open at the same time. The botanical gardens and the historic side will be all open on Saturday and Sunday. Um as well as event spacing. The bridge plaza is great and I'm glad we we're adding more spaces. I think I guess my question is being that's public parking, how are we going to I mean we can't really quarter it off for port parking. So and that plaza in itself is always busy. >> Always. >> Yeah, it sure is. You know, one of the things we heard um was that there there's a few components to Bridge Plaza. One is that uh patrons at the boardwalk tend to go in and use the restrooms and things like that at Bridge Plaza. So, we were going to add a restroom building, add some outdoor um seating areas where people could dine outside, which is not an option at Bridge Plaza really. Um so, we can't fence off the area and say this is only for, you know, boardwalk parking just as we wouldn't in the park. Not, you know, somebody could park over in, you know, by Pioneer Park and walk over and go to Lefties or one of the other restaurants. So, it's going to be um you know, a learning curve, I think, for just, you know, people knowing where to park. It definitely is a busy plaza and we're excited that it's a busy plaza. >> Yeah. And I think I think that um in partnership because obviously, you know, they're going to be losing other parking as people want to park and walk over. And so I'm okay with the 62 spaces. Obviously, they're public. They're going to be public. I don't know if we should count them though in our calculations just because, you know, we know that we're not going to be able to access those spaces only solely for port. You know, I think you have a little bit more chance with Tom Hooper, a little bit better with um you know, sometimes where the boats park because they have a lot of boat traffic, but you know, you'll have a little bit more um opportunity in those areas. And um but we still need I I still want to see numbers and numbers run of like what that looks like at full buildout because it's like we will have a little bit of time because he's going to he's going to do these in phases. So, we'll have a little bit more than even a year, but I we do need to have like a full idea of like if everything's busy at the same time and we'll just not count event tracker because that's too hard to even look at. Let's look at just Saturday, Sunday traffic, um how many spaces are we going to need? And I think uh looking at it beyond that site is the is the best approach because we do have a lot of things going on on the east side. And to the extent that we can address those with um you know a very comprehensive traffic plan with with parking and trolley service or some sort of transportation service, I think we'll be able to achieve a a good result. >> Mr. city manager. I know you and I had ideas like you actually you brought up the idea I think but you know how we're doing the reverse um slanted parking on village green drive and I know that you were thinking of something similar to that on veterans. Would that reverse parking concept work on veterans? >> I think we need to evaluate that with a consultant and make sure that you know we're we're not encroaching onto the roadway system. So definitely that'll be part of the evaluation to determine how many parking spaces we can accomplish in the whole zone between veterans and the port >> because we'll be looking at the way village green is slated to be built. It looks very similar that to that four lane divided road median divided very similar. So if we're able to do it in village green why can't we do it on veterans? >> Yeah definitely. >> Yeah I mean if there's spacing for it we should definitely look into it. home for sure. >> It would also give people, you know, an opportunity to park along the corridor where they could, you know, start somewhere and, you know, make a loop without going to a dedicated parking lot down at one end or the other. They could have a midpoint. So, we'll look into that as far as what the existing rideway is and what it'll allow. >> Thank you. And we also need to look at if we're going to be analyzing um utilization, there's going to be a big difference between when the snowbirds are here than there is when they're not, right? because when we have the snow all the snowbirds in town, the restaurants are more packed and um and there's just a lot more people. So, >> yeah, >> I think we're going to be surprised the amount of parking that there is like in veterans because veterans is not being utilized as much. So, that's another opportunity there um to be able to I think it's how do you move people? If people don't want to walk then can we move it on a trolley system. >> That's right. Because it is a kind of a distance. Yeah, exactly. >> For people. >> So, we're going to take that in consideration part of the evaluation. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Uh, so you may have noticed that the um six anchors have been distributed and installed in the within the port district at various locations. Um, based on a conversation that we had with you last year on branding for the port, we will be bringing some branding options, some gateway options to you um at the March CRA meeting. We wanted to transmit those to you, give you time to review them so that we can have a good conversation. Um, but they're they're they look really good. Um, and also the acquisition of Bridge Plaza really gives us an opportunity to have a nice gateway feature when you come across the bridge that we otherwise would not have have had. >> So, I I know um I'm sure I'm repeating myself, but the the park is is just award-winning. We've had a lot of great um recognition over the last year or so. um for the park itself, for the master plan, for the historic home restoration. So um we we do like to share those accolades, but you know, one of the biggest rewards that we get is the uh recognition of the visits, the people coming to the site, the people that are returning to the site. Um so these numbers were provided through the end of December and we just, you know, continue to see that as one of the biggest rewards um for the park. So, Jen, when we're um talking about CRA and then going back to the prior conversation about it's just not about a road or it's just not about one thing, we know that Bridge Plaza doesn't look the nicest. All the signs for all the different businesses are a mishmash. And so I think we had this discussion several years ago, but if we really have that desire to make everything look like it's revitalized, I'm interested to know what kind of incentive we can provide in work through the CRA and working with the owner of that plaza to try to upgrade it a little bit. I know um that it has been done like that in other areas and I really would like to I don't know how the rest of council feels but I mean if you're coming in and you're seeing our beautiful poanical gardens, our port district, the park, the um historical museum and and you're coming up on that plaza and it's just not the prettiest plaza. So I mean we really should be doing something. So we we have been carrying a a bridge plaza small area plan kind of as a as a concept that we wanted to work on. I think we're really at that pivotable pivotal point in our um program where we can actually start to do projects and invest. We weren't really at that point where we had the tiff revenue to invest. Um in addition in working with neighborhood services there's a commercial facade program that we would like to um work with them on. So kind of you know that whole corridor just beyond you know Bridge Plaza obviously is one of the big gateways coming into the port district but along the entire corridor down to US1 and again up US1. So I don't know how the council feels but you know the opportunity for that is really now before the restaurants are built. So if there's we can make some headway and figure out what we can do especially since the value has increased and there is funding in that area we should capitalize on it. Shannon. >> Yes. >> So, in regards to Bridge Plaza, I agree it's um it could use a facelift. I'm trying to choose my words properly here. I don't know why. I never have in the past, but um those that know me. >> Um it would be interesting to know is that plaza up to code when it comes to the landscaping? um the signage and everything else because we have had issues with other plazas aka across the street and they weren't up to code. So I don't mind it being in the CRA, but maybe a match, but I'd also like to know are they up to code? >> And if not, what what do they need to do to come to co up to code? Mhm. >> So, we'll work with our planning and zoning department to review the site plan and see what's been approved. Um, and then if there's anything necessary, you know, we don't like to shift into a code enforcement type process. If there is something deficient, we'll work with them on bringing them into compliance and see what we can do. At the same time, working on a a plan for revitalizing that plaza, facelifting. So, to Stephanie's point, even the shopping center across the street where the Walgreens is, >> right? And they pulled the signs off the building for the one-hour photo and they got the big holes there and it just it's outdated and it just doesn't look good when when you compare it to the rest of the area in the corridor. So, I agree. You know, we really need to work to see how we can give facelifts and help with facelifts to these things. And then we, like I mentioned before, we'll be bringing that branding to you, which that corner um that quadrant will have some branding options. So, I think that's a good time to to have that conversation. >> So, I've worked with um many of the businesses in there. Um and there has been complaints uh from without naming the businesses for certain things within that plaza because they're all leased, right? >> Yeah, they're tenants. So um and I know code has gone out and and enforced what they have can to they are able to enforce. Um I think that when we have this conversation and it should it needs to come together for not just Bridge Plaza um the rev revitalization let's say Ports Lucy Boulevard as well as um the east side we need to discuss with planning and zoning like how do we plan on dealing with these properties because I I don't know the owners of Bridge Plaza but it's hard to even ask them to fix or change anything or even let's say rebuild anything because the way that the code is today, the parking that's there isn't even adequate enough to today's code standards. So, anything they want to do above basic, and Mary, jump in if I'm wrong, anything they want to do above and beyond basic repairs, maintenance, a little bit of facade improvements, like from what I'm learning and what I've learned even on the on on the east side of where Village Green is will require them to comply with today's code and there's not enough space for parking and and there's not enough space for landscaping because these are old plazas. So I do think that council needs that presentation and then we need to discuss with planning as well as legal. Are there allowances? Can we grandfather? Is that one of the incentives? If you make these facads improvements, we're going to grandfather you in into the current the the past code standards. And you know, like I have a lot of questions on that, but we can offer incentives, but if if they can't do anything because of the way it's set up, I think we're going to have a problem. >> Well, there's only so much space, right? So, I can't imagine a world where we couldn't say you can keep your existing parking. I mean, outside of these 62 extra parcels, there's nowhere else to add it. There's no more space. So, it it doesn't make sense to me that we wouldn't be able to work within the confines of what we already have. I mean, we have to be flexible and and we have to recognize what was done in the past, but you now we we don't have areas where we can make them expand. So, we have to be able to work within that and work with them. >> Yep. So, I mean like I don't know like I see there's no other way to do it. Mary leaning, >> right? I don't know. I can't see >> Mary's over here. She's >> Mary if she's gonna jump in. >> Yeah. So, you're That's a great point. They have an existing site plan. When they were approved, the parking ratio was slightly different and so they're just meeting their current parking ratio. So, if there were to be a redevelopment, you know, obviously we assess that. Uh but so far, I mean, they had the ability to theoretically put a retail store still on that piece of property that um we purchased for the parking and they could have parked it appropriately per their current parking standard for that retail store. So, they're just right where, you know, they were right where they needed to be. I think what you see down there at that plaza is that you've got a bunch of very successful businesses there that you know um would like to continue to be successful and our challenge is going to be finding other ways for their customers to park and get to the plaza. >> But my question is you know the newer plazas that we have and let's say let's say Bridge Plaza we did an incentive package for them to redevelop or and they decided to rebuild and their site plan would be changed. you know, it's a major site plan change. It's not. Would their parking be re-evaluated and do you feel like it could actually meet today's standard? >> Well, I guess my answer would be it depends, but typically if there were going to be a redevelopment, the devil's in the details. Is it an overlay zone? What is the council's desire? What is the plan? You know, are there um shared parking arrangements built into the code? If there was a major redevelopment, I think planning would work with CRA and some kind of overlay district with, you know, accommodations is what we'd have to do because like I I've just experienced, you know, the um the gentleman that had the and he's no longer in business, the gentleman that had the brewery that was in the east side, like when I know that there was discussion of him wanting to expand or do more immediately the parking was an issue because of the age of those buildings to expand even further. other. So, I just want to make sure that we're looking at the discussion holistically because I do agree. I think we need to do what we can to improve those areas, but if they're going to be hitting planning roadblocks along the way, um we need to be ahead of that as well because that could also stifle the potential of redevelopment. So I think with our motto of how do we get to yes as long as it's not illegal, immoral or unethical, we there's always a way to find a way, right, Jesus? >> So we got to do that, >> especially if we expect there to be redevelopment. We can't keep just doing what we used to do. We have to have vision and we have to look at things differently. So yeah. >> All right. So, I'm going to take you out to Southern Grove for a quick update. Um, we have recognized the most increase in uh valuation in Southern Grove, almost 8,000% um with their taxable value uh tipping at 1.25 billion. And just of note, that is before um the Costco warehouse facility has come online. That's before a lot of the the facilities have come online. So, you're going to see that value um increase over the next few years. And a portion of that that's tiff revenue it goes back to the residents. Correct. >> Sure. Yes. >> Again just want to make sure we're we're noting that. >> So that CRA Yeah. That CRA functions differently than the east side CRA. So it does come back as a rebate um to the property owners to you know to a cap of what they they paid in. So >> and that's because they also paid into the SAD. >> So >> that's a little different on on the west side. >> It is. Well, it is, but in a way, if you think about it, it isn't because the discussion, and I do think we need to have the discussion and continue the discussion of the soccer stadium. There's this debate that, well, you're giving them a rebate, so you're using tax dollars. And that's no different than the Southern Grove CRA. In that situation, you have residential owners, high residential owners getting rebates, as well as the commercial businesses. So, the soccer stadium receiving a $1 million rebate over 20-year period is not out of um business practice, so to speak. and it is tax dollars that they're generating themselves. And I think that's where we need to continue to hit home with that. >> That's that's a very good message. And I will say one of my favorite times a year is when the residents call because they got their check and they like didn't know what it was for and they were just excited to get this check back from. So it it you know it definitely is a good way to message that um around the city. >> Thank you. >> All right. So we're coming into the home stretch in Southern Grove. I I mentioned um before that we have completed our jobs corridor um development as far as um the projects, but we're shifting into the retail portion of it. But I do want to share a couple projects. The first of which is import mechs that's under construction >> um up there on the north end. Dragonflies completed two of their buildings. Um and then there they have two additional on the south side. And then this is a great aerial image of what the final um Costco distribution facility will look like um once it is fully built out. >> It's massive. It's crazy. >> People can't people people are like, "Wow, what is that?" Because it is absolutely massive. So, it's really been about the jobs. You know, the council um years ago wanted to make this our jobs corridor bringing jobs to Port St. Lucy and as evidenced by the um employers listed here, resulting in nearly 4 million square feet of development um over 473 million in capital investment and creating um around 2,300 jobs just with those that's doesn't include any of the smaller infill development or any of the um the retail. So we do have a couple infrastructure projects that are wrapping up. The first is the southern or I'm sorry the um Anthony F. Sansson Senior Boulevard from Hegner up to Marshall Parkway. Just off of left of the screen is um the Costco distribution facility. And this is looking from flying above Marshall Parkway looking towards the northeast at Mackie and its terminus. So if you were to look off to the right of the screen, you would hopefully see a future interchange uh coming to light in the future. And then the lot just to the back of the um of the roadway there is our last kind of 10 acre site that's off of um it's off of village. So it's on Mackie and we anticipate um we're going to get that out on the market shortly. So there was a lot of talk at the uh early on in the workshop about infrastructure investment. We wanted to share the investment that there's music on this one. um the investment that's been made in the Southern Grove jobs corridor and how this has been developer funded the infrastructure and that's really important that the development that's been going on out there they've put in the infrastructure I specifically highlighted the um the 8.5 million for Hegner because that is um us as GFC doing that project so us as the developer um have been working on that project but also in turn we've recognized about uh $15.5 million in grants towards the infrastructure in Southern Grove. So those translate um really for good product, good development uh for the future of Western Port St. Lucy. And with that, I do have ability to answer questions and again there will be a comprehensive update with the annual report that'll go into more detail on some of those projects. >> Any other questions, comments? just with the RFP for the hotels, but the future RFPs too. How are we putting those out? How are we getting the word out? >> Yep. So, they they will be um advertised through open gov with the city. So, anybody that's interested in doing um getting notified of that would register with open gov and they can pick categories to get notified on particular RFPs that are put out. So, it's out there. >> Are you are you referencing Walton in one area? >> Yes. Because >> Okay. Uh so my question is I guess is that being that this is this is not typical for government to actually be in this this scenario. We're in this scenario for unique reason. Um history has proven that. Um how do we know that we're going to be getting the best and the greatest applicants if hotel years are not going to be thinking let's go to open gov to see if there's any city contracts or any you know like. So, how do we make sure that people are aware of this? >> So, um I will say over the last few years, we've received multiple calls from different hotel years on the site and just kind of said there will be a site coming out. Um there's the ability, we do have a broker in the city that we're contracted with that can go out and and market that for us and direct people to the RFP um within open gov. So yeah, they may not intuitively sign up for that, but there's the ability for um people to be directed to it. >> And I know the RFP process is right now outstanding, but I do think that after in future RFPs, I think it might be important to, you know, we do have a broker that is a partner and we also use other ways of getting out the information. Um I just think we just need to spread everything far and wide so we get the best proposals forward. The more people know about it, the better the better chances we have. So, um I just I just think I think think it's important. >> Yeah. So, how are we how are we marketing outside of the hotel? How are we marketing the rest of the parcels? >> Oh, go ahead. >> Go ahead. >> No, it'll it'll be the same process. We'll evaluate each of the tracks because it's not individual parcels. This one that went out for the RFP is actually three parcels. So, there's like another block across the plaza from it and that's actually tied to the parking area behind it. So, we would market that as the next site potentially or the hotel site that's just behind that. So, we would put those out um by block, >> but one at a time or comprehensively because the problem is if we do it one at a time, we're never going to get everything like starting to get built up. >> Sure. It's not going to be dependent. We're not going to wait until one process finishes and starts the other. They'll they'll be kind of um they they'll phase through. So, you'll have them kind of staggered um along the way. So, not all at one time, but not dependent upon each other. So, we'll make sure that we don't have any snies. This is our first RFP on the site. We want to make sure that we have everything underway. Then we can get the next package together and get that out while this one's going through. And it they'll just kind of overlap. >> We do have a lot of residential interest in the site and creating the residential product, too. So, that's going to be another package. Takes up a little bit more property. I know it's just the residential really isn't the focus here, >> right? It's the business aspect. >> It is. >> So, I don't want to get bogged down with focusing on that just because it's a development as opposed to getting what the residents are really interested in which is the commercial, which is the retail, which is the restaurant space and things like that. So, which does typically follow the residential. So, that's it's kind of one of those, >> but there's a lot of residential around already. We have residential multif family across the street and up the road. So, I really think that we need to really hone in on how we're doing this and making sure that we're just not peacemailing it based on just what's in the master plan. We really need to have like more eyes on it. And even even the residential pieces have um retail and restaurants on the first floor. So, they're not self they're not just by themselves. They're all intended to be mixed use. So, you would have that component where you'd potentially have a retail um retailer with a residential coming together on a partner ship. >> And go ahead. No, I was going to say I was like, yeah, so um we got to see when we went to was it what was it called? The you and me, we went to um >> Oh, when we went to Lakeland's >> No, the IC the ICC or whatever it's called the >> you know what I'm talking about. We went to a conference >> and in that conference we met with different um multif family companies that did the commercial component on the first floor with the uh increase. But one of the other examples that I saw which would be would really change the corridor is that that front section of the master plan would actually could potentially be retail but you're looking at like higherend retail and then you'd still have retail and restaurants on the first floor and then um and you'll have housing on the top. But I do think we could do that. That's why I'm saying like I want to make sure that when we go out for RFP we're we're going out far and wide especially for the residential components because they were very interested in this property. There were several that were extremely interested in this property and basically you know what I delivered was what I think was said to what we all said by the master plan is we understand it's going to have housing but the retail is so important and I think they understood that that you know that component of retail with the residential on top is like where the where like would peak our most interest. Yeah. And if that's the mix, that's great. Yes. But >> but how long are you going to wait to develop RFPs in order to get get that done? That's what I'm saying. So, I really think we need a consultant group helping us on this who really specializes and can work with Jen on on on this. They It's done all over the country, but I don't want to be in a situation where we're peacemailing it or we're trying to get one RFP and then get someone in then another RFP. RFPs take months, as we know, to develop and then they take months to get out on the street and then you got months of um the selection process before it even gets to the city council. And so if we have had all this interest, then we need to be taking action on it instead of just saying, "Oh, well, you got to wait till we do this and oh, we're doing this first." I mean, we didn't do that with Southern Grove. All the development was starting to come in as we were doing that master plan. That's what was happening. And so we were able to marry the two together and in such a short amount of time, right, in six years out of a 20-year plan, look at Southern Grove today, right? We need to do the same thing uh at Welton in one. And you're right. I think, you know, to your point earlier, and I'm going to I know we're going back and forth here, but I'm trying to think about this too as we're talking about it. The other thing too is strategically because you were saying do we put the residential first strategically it's like with the stadium coming what happens if the master plan flips meaning that that stadium ends up creating so much demand in the commercial side where we could get more commercial development versus housing and then we kind of close that door because we went first with the housing. So >> Mhm. >> As I'm thinking about it, I'm like maybe we let the stadium go first. >> Well, the stadium is going first. >> No, but I'm just saying like go first before like because once that starts producing and once you have like that, we've seen it. You've seen it. I know you've seen it going downtown to different places. How like once you put a big element like that, the commercial blows up. >> Yeah. But the problem is if we wait until that's done, that's not going to be done until 2027. So, we're going to wait and do nothing between now and 27. >> No, I think just with the residential parcels, like you were saying, maybe we don't go first with the residential. >> I I just think we need to s work simultaneously on everything and bring start bringing things forward so we know what's going on. >> No, no, we'll go ahead and come up with the plan and bring it back to council. Yeah, come out with the strategy and then I would love to know like strategically how to look at this from a like a a economic perspective of the possibilities or what is best business practices in this situation what can happen that would be a positive thing for us obviously for the for the factor of more commercial I would rather obviously have more commercial than residential any day of the week right now >> so we we have a couple things one we do have a a broker engaged that can assist us with you know kind of shephering through that process The second is we're at an advantage with the the way the site was developed, it is blocks. So if we change a block and say it doesn't need to be residential anymore, it needs to be commercial or whatever, it's very easy to do that between the blocks. So we have that infrastructure in place, which is a huge advantage as opposed to just having raw land and trying to to figure out what it's going to be. So we do have a lot of that already in place. So we'll we'll bring that forward. We'll have a um additional conversation at the March meeting when we bring the annual report to you. We can have additional conversation on this. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll keep thinking dangerous. >> All right. Thanks, Jen. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks, mayor, for the conversation. >> You're welcome. All right. We're going to move on to special events. Stephanie, your favorite Good good a I have my thing said good morning. So good afternoon uh mayor, vice mayor, city council, city manager and city attorney and staff and residents. Um uh my name is Nan Kinsky, special events director. And I I I want to make a call shout back to yesterday. If people were bringing smorgus boards and fruit plates, special events is bringing the party. >> All right, >> so get ready. All right, >> we got the party. >> We got to get the party going. So today we're going to be sharing our initial findings on the special event department 10-year plan. Uh we've been delivering uh exceptional experiences to the city uh celebrating the city's diversity and commu and community pride. and we've hosted a variety of events from festivals, parades, um, citywide celebrations, uh, to enhance the quality of life here in Port St. Lucy. Um, this progress is supported by strategic partnerships with industry experts, including Carlos Perez of Perez Planning and Design, uh, who I'm sure you all remember, and Jack Cartis of, uh, J Cartis Strategies. today. They'll be providing the insight into our current position and our future direction uh for special events over the next decade. While this is only the beginning, you will see the passion our community has for special events. So, please uh welcome me and join me in welcoming our consultants, Carlos and Jack. >> Welcome. Happy to see you both again. >> Good to see you all. Thank you so much. And uh uh mayor and council members, thank you so much for the opportunity to address you today. and uh um Jesus and Christina, thank you as well. We appreciate it. So, what we're going to do today is we're going to keep this as tight as we can. Um we're going to give you an overview of the project purpose, goals, its scope and schedule. We're going to look at the we're talk to you about the findings to date, the next steps, and then we'll handle some questions if you have any at the end of the presentation. Um, as you recall, you last uh, in fact, it was probably in November or January of last year when we were here, we made some recommendations after an internal policy and practice review of your special events citywide. Um, and we were looking at some of the challenges. One of the key challenges being, you know, the amount of space, the outgrowing of the uh, of existing park spaces and other uh, opportunities for uh, for big larger events. So what we're really doing is reconciling the Port St. Lucy growth with its residents appetite for events. They love the events. Um it's a you know and looking at what the existing inventory of spaces are and how we can do that. And by doing that I'm sorry I let me get back there. And to do that we're going to provide a master planning framework for the future of city events. We're going to align that with the strategic plan. uh we're going to look externally by engaging the customers this time instead of looking entirely at from an inside view. We're asking the customers and we've begun that process already um so that we we know exactly how that can align with operations and land use and we'll also be establishing sustainable capacity beyond the existing venues. You know those some recommendations for that. Um, our project goals, um, develop strategies for the special events department that address community needs, considering the rapidly changing community and focusing on the resources and the alignment of the city's strategic plan. We'll determine how to best use some of the uh, recommendations that were made in the original report. And we'll also look at uh the creation of accessible p public gathering spaces hosting large-scale special events, enhancing the quality of life, cultural vitality, and economic development in Port St. Lucy. And we will ultimately identify funding sources including exploring public private partnerships and other resources. When partners are involved and they can help shoulder both capital and operating expenses, that always makes uh makes it better for everyone. Um so where we're at right now with the scheduling um we have uh gone through our plan and review process. Um we are in the process of engagement and analysis right now in the month of March. You'll be uh um uh contacted regarding stakeholder meetings. We've got more than 60 me people that uh uh groups that we'll be reaching out to for those stakeholder meetings. Um we'll get get that done by the first week in April and then the event concept and alternates will be uh done by the end of May and our special event strategic report should be complete by the uh mid July. Um to date we've got 2 4 6 8 nine events that we've already engaged groups with. Um, we've got a group of events here, River Nights and Irish Fest and uh the PSL65 in Junth and the Fourth of the July that are on our calendar now to get out to and talk to the the public again. And what we are looking at right now is 3,250 people who have already participated and they've given us over 15,000 uh pieces of data of they've given us the you know their recommendations for special events and that includes 2,800 youth uh uh votes if you call and and 12,680 adults. So uh it's been very very productive to date and we're only getting started on that process. Um our upcoming stakeholder events will uh be engaging the internal departments within the city, our external partners, uh focus groups uh such as the city, the youth council and city university ambassadors, etc. And we'll also be doing two public meetings as well. Um so with that, I'm going to turn the microphone over to Carlos and he's going to take you through the findings, what we've got so far. >> Great. >> Great. Mayor, >> good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, and council members and city managers. It's pleasure to be here in front of you this afternoon to share how and what we've learned to date. As Jack mentioned, staff and the team have been very busy collecting input both from adults and youth. So, we want to share some of those findings with you. Uh, and we'll start with what we've heard thus far from the adults. Um, so one of the questions that we asked the adults is what activities are you most excited excited to participate in? So, when these were asked, it was at special event. So, as they were getting there, what were they excited to participate in? And you'll see that out of over 6,300 votes, about 11% of those are uh food and beverage festivals as well as music festivals. And then from there, street festivals, comedy show, and carnival wrap up the the top five that we've that we've seen in terms of exid activities that they're most excited about. We also asked them, well, what what is missing from events that you've seen that you're participating in? What is missing? And so this is uh we asked them write comments down and and created a word cloud as you're seeing. So the larger the letter uh and the word the more times we heard that. So music, more food options, more lights, food trucks, uh events, kids activities uh etc. >> More lights. So this was uh probably during the holidays. >> Exactly. Yes. Yeah. And uh with that hot chocolate, >> we still have the issues of why are all the lights over here versus why are all the lights there and you're forgetting about this side of the city because majority of the lights end up on the east side because of our port district because of Walton and one. Um so yeah, that's been a struggle for quite some time, but we also know how costly it is for to have our holiday lights. So >> great. >> Yeah. And then for more food options, I completely understand that because um with certain events, we only have a select group of like food trucks and a lot of times they're not mixed as much and you don't have much variety. So I can totally understand where that's coming from because I've had lots of comments about that about, you know, not enough variety for food truck options. >> Great. >> As far as far as the music goes, Carlos, was it subdivided into what category? because we've had all different genres of music over there and and David, correct me if I'm wrong. We only we've only had a couple shows that that sell out because majority of them >> they don't make money. >> They Yeah, they're they're not money makers. So that's why that's why I question the music aspect. >> Yeah. So I think great question um and and one that we can dig into a little bit through this process. As Jack mentioned, one of the things we'll be doing is meeting with stakeholders uh moving forward and then there's also going to be additional surveys. So, that may be a question to to dig into a little bit to see if we can find a better response for it. >> We also asked about a VIP experience, if there were a VIP option available with food and beverage and premier seating and other elements, if they would be interested in paying for that. And so out of six over almost 1,700 responses, 65% are saying yes, they would be interested in that VIP experience. And then we went a little further and said, well, how much would you be uh willing to spend on that VIP experience? So those that responded to this close to 1,200. You can see that all of them were within that uh realm of$25 to $50. Uh and then from there it goes down. So the problem with that is that does not align with what the cost would be for a true VIP experience. If you think about where if you go to all different events and you want that true VIP experience, you're not paying 50 bucks for it. You're paying well over $100 for it. So that that's tells us something right there. >> Yeah. You can't even >> they want they want the experience, but they don't want to pay for what it costs for that experience. So how do we figure that out? >> Sure. No, great great point and something to to look further into the in this process. >> But Madame Mayor, to your point, I think I think it's interesting though because let me see 103 people. 9% is 103 people. >> So to your to what you just said, I think the sweet spot is if it's the right event, obviously it can't just be any event. Sure. >> If it's the right event, >> you know, you're right between that 100 and 150 mark is where those usually are, but we could probably only accommodate so many people anyway. So, is that hitting the sweet spot? I don't know. We'll see. >> We'll see. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That factors into it, too. Absolutely. >> Great. And then in terms of the break, um, excuse me. >> Uh, another question was, should the city invest in developing a first class special events venue, right? So, out of those over,600, 83% of respondents saying yes, that they'd like to to see that. And then in terms of the age groups in the adult range, uh really uh great breakdown uh over one in two or close to one in two people under 44 years old, which is great to see. And then one in three under 35. So good representation, good good uh uh group um of of folks that we got this input from. It was great to see. So this is the adult uh questions. >> We also had the youth survey. similar questions uh asking the youth what do you like in the event that you are attending uh and are around 2200 a little over 2200 responses uh top two being rides and music and then from there you can see obstacle course STEM so science technology engineering and math uh and games as uh as running out that that top five and also the same question what is missing same same word cloud so music gaming center uh movies, live band, kids concert, sports, karaoke, dancing, and other elements. And then in terms of the age group, really good range uh a mix of of folks that that we got as part of this uh process as well. So 63% between five and 12 uh which was we thought was really really great to get that input. So this was all qualitative uh information. Now we're going to pivot to the quantitative uh information that we've been able to work with and this is working very closely with Robert Chenet uh from your staff who's been very helpful in uh really helping us dig into the placer AI analysis. >> Carlos, one question. >> Yep. >> Did the did this data incorporate the citizen summit that we just had or it does. >> Okay. Just want to check. Yes. Thanks. >> It did. Yes. >> So what we did working with uh Robert is we looked at the uh top six special events. the largest top six special events in the last uh year. Uh and so starting from left to right, you can see the event uh the dates, total visits, unique visits, the average dwell time, uh number of visitors that came from the city of Port St. Lucy, number that came outside uh other parts of Florida and even outside of Florida as well. And it was really impressive to see some of these total numbers. So, if you go to that light blue line towards the bottom, second from the bottom, uh total visits, 87,000 visits, which is really, really impressive. Uh dwell time over an hour and a half was the average dwell time, which was really great to see. Uh 66% coming from the city of Port St. Lucy, but that 30% outside the city, even 4% uh from outside this uh the state of Florida, which is really impressive to see that draw that these uh special events uh are are bringing. Uh and and the one of the great benefits of place is it also allows us to get a sense of where exactly are people coming from. So in the next series of slides, we picked uh the top three events and dug into that a little bit. Uh so you could see how how uh how far people are coming from these events. Uh so we'll start with uh the festival of lights which was the single largest uh single day uh event. So attendance of about 8,300 people uh 70% of which came from the city of Port St. Lucy uh and 25% from uh the state. And you can see the image on the left that shows uh that central part of the state. So, we're pulling from far south of Miami, uh, Hollywood, Palm Beach County from the west, uh, Tampa, uh, and even a little bit in the Fort Meyers area. >> And then if we focus, uh, into the Port St. Lucy area and the county area, we see Steuart for for Pierce, uh, Lakewood, and Vero Beach, even Okchobee in terms of draws. >> Yes, >> I had a question. The I understand the Pacer AI, right? But um let's say somebody moved up here from Miami, kept their area code. It's going to show that they're from Miami. So that's kind of deceiving, isn't it? >> I would have to go ahead. >> What I was told >> I'm sorry I keep hitting it off. What I was told uh from Bobby was that uh place AI recognizes if you've been in an an area for so long, Bobby, correct me if I'm wrong, that it starts to recognize that's your place. So, I have a 412 area code, but I've been in Florida for, you know, 10 years. And so, it recognizes me as a resident and not someone from Pennsylvania. So, it it does have that technology after a 30-day period to recognize you're a resident or not. >> Thank you. >> Great. >> So, that's Festival of Lights. Let's go to the second one we looked at which was the second largest day uh single day attendance of and this was 6600 people and this is a freedom fest 65% of which came from uh city of Port St. Lucy 28% from the state and again you see a similar draw as far down as Florida uh Tampa Palm Beach County Fort Lauderdale and then similar uh uh from a similar areas uh in uh in around Port St. Luca store, Fort Pierce, Okachchobee, etc. And then the last one that we looked at uh was the largest combined attendance. So this was PSLing lights 2025. So this was over a 33-day period that uh that this data captures. Uh but it was uh again 5,300 people that attended these, 64% of which came from uh city of Port St. Lucy, 29% from the state, and 7% outside of state. And so you can see the image on the left that we're pulling in from Tallahassee, Gainesville, Jacksonville, even Valdasta, uh, Tampa, Orlando, Veto, Fort Meyers, Miami, uh, in the south. Uh, and then on the right, uh, you see again similar areas that we're pulling from within within our our immediate county area and immediately adjacent to it. >> So that's almost 54,000 over the course of that month. >> That's correct. So really really impressive numbers uh and speaks to the great great event that that cities are the city's putting on. >> And again, we're not we're not done with this, right? Um moving forward, we'll be doing one-on- ones February and March. We'll be doing an online survey, which we believe is an opportunity to explore some of these questions that you've brought up today. Um also public meetings in March and April, and then more special events from now through uh through July uh when we look to complete the project. So with that, thank you for the opportunity to present to you this afternoon and we'll open up for for discussion, additional discussion. >> So the goal at the end is to come up with a master plan going forward for special events. That is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> And that will be finalized July. You said >> that's correct. >> So is that will be that be at the workshop to start making final decisions on things? >> Okay. So talk to me about the the master plan. Is it to identify what events we're doing? Is it to identify where we're going? >> So, it's going to be right. That's really where the project goals help us out with, right? So, it's uh developing those strategies associated with the special events. Uh in Jack's study, there was a series of recommendations on how to how to implement this. So, this will expand on that. And part of it too is looking at potential spaces, right? Based on this information that we collect uh from this different input, what are these what are these potential spaces and what does that physical layout look like to support these special uh events uh moving forward? Uh and then also what are those funding sources that can help us implement that? >> Okay. Yeah. because I mean obviously now that Walton and one will be developed that change is going to happen dramatically um in regards to where we're holding some of these things and then you know we have McCarti Ranch and some other areas we can do some stuff too but um I think the analysis of what can be held at each of the spaces is critical not even if what event's going to go there it's what can that actual park or whatever um actually accommodate is it you know a festival I've been asked I don't know if you guys have gotten this across. I've been getting asked a lot, can we do more um farmers markets and those kind of things, especially about Torino. I recently had someone come to me and say Torino Park that we've got all that room. They, you know, they said that they had spoken to one of us up here before and that they had mentioned that they would like to see um farmers markets and that kind of stuff on the weekends in Torino Park. And I I mean I I don't know if it can even accommodate that. And I and so I I just think it'd be interesting to know what the they can accommodate and so we know where um these things could possibly go. >> Sounds good. >> And so what stands out obviously is the two things that we would expect to stand out both from the adult side and the youth side, food and music, right? But we know what our challenges have been with the music festival and the cost, the high cost. So, if that continues to be the biggest draw and the biggest thing that people want, we're going to have to figure out what that looks like in terms of how do we address those costs. I know the production costs are were the things that were made everything so expensive um because we didn't have that production component and then that had to, you know, be brought in. So, it'll be interesting to see how we navigate that going forward. Um because if that's what people want then and we want to provide it, it'll be yes location but also to make sure that it's a revenue generator as opposed to what we dealt with with we tried the um the uh the music events which were great and I I think several of us were at some you know some of them at least but we know that it has to not we we can't be in the continue to be in the red and that's why we changed and stop doing that for a while till we get to this, you know, till we figure this out. But >> but I think also the fee may be a component of that so we don't end up in the red every time we do an event. >> Yeah. >> Well, I think to David's point too, diving into the music piece of it, because I think people want music, but they want to see us do I mean, that's what I'm assuming. They want big music talent coming in and that's the challenge. Unless we have the space to do that or unless we have an indoor space that can do that. You're you're looking at, you know, big arena stadium size. It's it's going to be very difficult to give them that. I do think I I of course I've been a proponent. It's not a secret. I do think we do need to identify in the future um a space for that because uh special events venue was 83% you know favored and I think we really need to work towards deciding if we're going to do a venue where is that venue going to be located and what exactly is that venue going to be utilized for um because ultimately I honestly I I go to concerts with my daughter and I always pick places if I can that are indoor, you know, whether it's an arena or a stadium because I don't have to worry about weather, climate, you know, like being hot outside, those kind of things. >> So, that's also in the consideration of that. >> Yeah. Honestly, I don't see us being able to do anything grand scale >> in the future that's outdoor. There's just too much residential really in any area. And and you know, we talk about the fairgrounds and when you're talking about um or if you think about going down to West Palm Beach, a location of I think, right, there's not residential around there. So, I mean, we really would have to consider an indoor space if we're going to, you know, ever go down that line um and where that might be because of that aspect. we just don't have these large swaths of land anywhere that we're that could accommodate that with that kind of acreage, you know. So, >> I think one component that we could possibly think about is um when we have these festivals, if we want to do music, bring a music act in to enhance the festival. That would help to bring more people there. And if we charge a a nominal fee to go see the the act, then that, you know, so be it. But um I think we've already explored having having music and and and I know everybody's falling out of their chair hearing me say this, but we've already been down that road and and we know where it leads us and I don't think that we need to continue down that unless we have a a better plan >> and you know spending thousands of dollars uh to bring a band in and you know we don't sell it out or we don't make enough money back to to even pay the band. It makes no sense to continue doing it, >> right? It's very difficult to compete with West Palm in Orlando and Tampa for that matter and Miami for that matter. >> So, great. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Mr. Maria, you're up. >> Can Can I add something for a minute? I know that there had been a request for some information about Freedom Fest. >> Are you available to do that now? Go ahead. Okay, good. So, uh, as everyone knows, it's the 250th anniversary. Thank you guys. 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, we're in a kind of a go big or go home mode for our event. Um, and at this point, so we have it set, it's will be Saturday, July 4th. Uh, we're starting in the morning with a 5K walk and run. Um, which will be an income generator for us. Uh that will happen in the morning at Mid Florida Event Center. Um and then starting at 5, we'll have um we have a lot of things on stage. We have we have entertainment. We have a band called Girlfriend Material. Our headliner, very excited about is Max Weinberg's Jukebox. Uh Max Weinberg is the drummer for uh Bruce Springsteen. And as you know, they're they just they just announced their tour is going to start to go on sale tomorrow. Um and they will be in Sunrise. So there'll be a lot of momentum and excitement about uh having Max Weineberg. Max Weineberg was also the music director for the Conan O'Brien show. He's a Rock Hall of Fame uh inductee. So there's a lot of juice behind having him there and he does kind of a very fun interactive where the uh audience will pick the gu will set the set list uh because of um he has a big screen behind him and all the songs you know hundred songs rotate through and you can pick which ones you want him to sing and then he just goes through and um and that's how the set list is is set every night. Um and then we're also uh adding uh along with the Zambelli fireworks, we're also adding uh Lunaite drone show um which uh as everyone knows went over very well for the Junth last year. It was a surprise. So I think when people actually have a a chance to prepare for it, uh so we'll do 20 minutes of uh fireworks and 20 minutes of drones. Uh we're also planning a lot of extensive children's areas. We are talking about having um a very kind of a historical area. Maybe we have reenactors. Uh we're working on some of these details kind of what is the Declaration of Independence for the educational area that people can learn about. Who were some of those signers? You know, when you talk about signing your John Hancock here, what does that mean? Well, right here's the the signature. And so, we want to make it very educational also, but we want to make it fun. It's going to be a big party for everybody. Um uh we are adding a VIP experience component um and uh which will include food and you know some type of uh beverage and some other interactive things as as we uh coordinate that. Um that's sort of it in a in a a kind of a very 10,000 level uh view. Do you have any specific questions about the event? >> Yeah, we'll uh >> What did you say? I'm sorry. >> I just want to make sure that we hear more as we, you know, like I want to it's a lot of you're giving us a lot of details right now, but I think it'd be good to kind of like talk later and and meet back up to just get them get the full picture. >> Absolutely. We will definitely keep you all updated as we uh proceed with it. >> And then do you have any plans of since you're doing it um in that space, is there any plans or thoughts about potentially expanding it to the other areas of the city? Meaning like I just thought about when you were talking about the history portion, would it benefit having a stop at the port district at like the history museum or um you know we do have the event space like being that there's going to be so many people in that area. I think my question too is is that do we I just realized it was a Saturday. I'm like holy cow it's a Saturday. It's a 4th of July. It's always that's like the biggest event and then you have the 250th anniversary and all of these things. Do we have the opportunity to kind of like help do things in certain areas that way people are not all congregated in one area trying to get into one space? I don't know. >> Uh well, you know, it's it's it's an interesting idea, but I think when everyone's just going to come in for those fireworks and drones anyway, can we disperse some of this information in other areas through signage and things? I think absolutely. I think it would be kind of good because not everyone, some people might say, "Oh, it's too crowded." Other people are going to be, "We're there because this is a it's a momentous um event." Um and so I think that uh you know, we're certainly open to any ideas that you have. And >> I'm just concerned about spreading the staff out in all these different places for for an event for one day. That just seems like a an awful lot. And it's true. Most people come in the evening. They come the majority of people come for either VIP or to see the fireworks and of course the drone and then they go that's when the huge concentration of people that we have are so >> yeah they all arrive and then they all go and and mass which is a challenge for the police and we we're working with them um with weekly meetings to figure out these details and make sure it's safe for everybody and how we can get them in and out and uh because we want it to be a happy occasion for everybody. We want people to walk away going, "This was great." Not, "I'm still sitting in traffic, >> right?" >> Yeah. I think that's going to be a big coordination and safety in general. And do we do we have like transportation? Are we going to have everyone park like where they're going to be parking? >> Uh, yeah, we're working on all those details. So, as soon as we have those confirmed, uh, you know, we'll be able to share that back with you. >> Thank you. And I assume with special events, uh, the PD is into the fold because all these are so heavily intensive with regard to utilization of police services. Um, so >> yeah, we have a >> it's a it's a it's a lot and then the then there's a lot of overtime that has to be paid and so um you know that's all has to be taken into consideration because it is a heavy lift and I know it's a huge burden when when they have to do all that. Yeah, we meet with weekly with um the police department and then monthly we meet with all of the departments uh to talk about events because it it doesn't just affect special events and police. It's public works and IT and communications. I mean, there's a lot uh it's it's definitely a team effort and we all meet together at least once a month, at least once a month to go over the specifics and the details so everyone's on the same page. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, mayor. I just want to do a quick time check for you because I know we were um you're just wondering with the utility systems hip of course it's always helpful to hear that you did hear some of that in the CIP um you do have the budget today and the Gearing Group investment report all have consultants you know as well so we can move the debt update potentially and >> yeah let's move investment and debt um we can do that at a workshop or a special meeting that's fine um so you want to just go into the bud. Yeah, we think um you you could hear potentially the parks and recreation hip tomorrow and the Saints update tomorrow morning. There's some time because we're going to be talking about naturally PSL and and maybe that would be a night nice fit for Friday morning. I believe there is a consultant here for the investment report, however, that I believe might have some time sensitivity. I don't know if you want to hear that today because we're due for a break right now and I don't know how long it's going to take to do budget. So, I'd rather because it's already 2:15. >> Yeah. So, okay, let's take a 15 minutes and then we're going to come back and go right into budget. Okay, we're back from break and we're get right into our first look at our budget. Miss Sturgis, good afternoon. >> Good afternoon, Madame Mayor, um Madame Vice Mayor, Council, and all those that are present. For the record, Caroline Sturgis, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Uh today, I am joined uh with my co-presenter Ivy Latica, who is the budget uh deputy director. So for me, I will be providing a overview of our outlook for fiscal year 2026 through 27. Um I will also go into our general fund. Uh then I'll hand it over to Ivy uh Lato who will provide an overview of all of our enterprise and special revenues. And then I'll wrap it up um uh with a summary at the end. Uh so we do have a number of slides. We have 74, but as far as our speaking time, it's only about 30 minutes. So, we will try to go through this uh as quickly as uh possible. Our goal is really to take a first look at what we're seeing um for the next fiscal year of 26 through uh 27. Uh focusing on our priorities uh the economic outlook um and our millage objectives to ensure a sustainable future for um the city of Port St. Lucy. Uh before I begin with the presentation, I would like to take a moment to congratulate the city on maintaining the government finance officer association's uh distinguished budget award presentation. Um our slide needs to be updated. Um this shows for fiscal year of 2024 through 25. Yesterday while we were here um in at the workshop, we did receive notice from GFOA that we did receive um the distinguished budget award presentation for our most recently adopted budget of 25 uh26 uh which means it is the 37th consecutive year that we have received that um acknowledgement. Uh in addition to that we did receive three special um recognitions which we are very proud of. Uh one was for our performance measures, one was for uh strategic goals and strategies and one was for budget process. So this is the first year that we've ever been recognized for our budget process. But overall this really reflects our commitment to transparency with our budget um and excellence. So, I do want to uh express a round of kudos uh to everyone um in helping to develop our um um budget uh the city manager's office um all of the city departments and of course to you uh city council because of your vision and support um you have helped us contribute to delivering a quality budget presentation. >> Thank you very much and congratulations to all. >> Thank you madame mayor. Uh our uh agenda we will cover the city manager's uh direction, economic trends, millage rate objectives, and council's priorities for the upcoming fiscal year of 2026 through 27. Our goal uh today is to confirm council's priorities and set the tentative millage rate um to guide the development process of the next fiscal year's budget. Uh we have met with the city manager Mr. Morjo and he has emphasized uh for the next fiscal year uh to include taking a conservative approach um to fiscal management uh aligning initiatives with the city's uh adopted strategic plan and planning for capital uh future needs uh which will keep the city strong. However, legislative proposals may impact um property tax and the revenue that support uh city services. So, those are something that we are monitoring as we're developing the budget. Uh this graph here shows the annual budget process. It starts with a council approved uh strategic plan followed by all of the departments evaluating the street strategic plan. Uh next we develop an annual budget which will advance the strategic plan and then throughout the year we are administering that budget and then we will repeat the process. Uh taking a look at the economy we have reviewed uh several important economic uh indicators based on the latest data available. Uh nationwide we have seen that the economy has grown by 4.4%. um that was based on the third quarter of 2025. Uh this growth is mainly due to consumer spending, home building, uh government spending and trade. Over the past year, inflation rose by 2.7%. Which is slightly lower than the uh previous year. Uh federal interest rates have dropped by about one point compared to last year. uh people's uh confidence uh in the economy has decreased uh falling to 52.9 points from 74 uh points in the previous year. In Florida, the unemployment rate is slightly lower than the national average. Uh for this calendar year of 26, uh the annual assessment increase uh for the Florida Save Our Homes program is 2.7% which matches the national consumer price index. Um our city has seen a 27% population growth over the past five years, welcoming more than 55 uh,000 new residents. Uh last year we did see a uh decline in our building permits. it was a 29% decline um in comparison to the previous year. So although this is indicating a potential slowdown um in construction uh but it is not a complete uh stop. Uh this graph of consumer confidence shows the swings in last year uh ending lower um in um January versus the same time in the previous year. According to the University of uh Michigan surveys, uh consumers perceived some modest improvement in the economy over the past two months. Um consumers are basically still concerned about issues such as uh high prices and softening of the labor market. Uh looking um in at our state, uh the slide shows the anticipated valuation for homesteaded properties. uh the annual increase through our save our homes program is capped at 3% or of the assessed value for the pri prior year or the percentage change in CPI um whichever one is lower. So this year being capped at 3% we did see a CPI change of 2.7%. Therefore, the state has already determined that the maximum increase that a homesteaded property will see is a two 2.7% increase for this year. Looking locally, uh the number of building permits completed for calendar 2025 uh increased for commercial, but it did decline for single and family um I'm sorry, for single and multif family residences. The net decline in permits completed was um about 1300 less. The valuation for all permits issued was at $1.8 billion uh for fiscal year 20 I'm sorry that was for calendar year of 2025 uh which is slightly higher than the prior year. Uh this re uh reflects an increase in cost of construction and valuation. Another indicator that we usually review is the uh realators association market listings. The number of closed sales in the county are up by 2% year-over-year whereas median single family home sale prices are down by 1%. As of December 2025, there were about 2,300 active listings for single family homes, representing a fivemon supply of inventory. Uh the benchmark for a balanced market, meaning that there is no advantage to the um seller or a buyer is a 5.5 months um of inventory supply. Therefore, last year ended as a sellers market. Uh last fiscal year of 2025, we realized uh advalorum revenue gain of $5.9 million from new construction. Um that was valued at $1.3 billion. For the upcoming year of fiscal year 2027, we are forecasting new construction will add $1.4 4 billion of taxable value and $6.5 million of new advalorum revenue. Uh in summary, our city is experiencing continued growth but at a much slower pace. Um commercial development is picking up um and with these uh developments um we are anticipating to see more jobs and convenience within our area. Uh we are pleased to report that the personal income and household uh growth among our residents is increasing. Uh additionally the city is um realizing modest uh revenue growth which will help support city services. We are monitoring um property tax reforms that are being considered at the state legislature. uh with these reforms, some of them if enacted, they would have sign significant impact on our budget and the level of services uh that we can provide. Therefore, as we're looking forward, we are taking a conservative approach with our budget planning. Uh like many communities, we are facing inflationary pressures that lead to higher expenditures uh both operating and capital projects. We are working diligently to manage these costs and uh minimize the impact uh whenever we can through incorporating innovation and um efficiencies within the services we provide. Our budget stabilization fund, also known as our reserves, uh have been utilized in recent years to support critical uh capital projects uh funding gaps as we've seen the cost of those projects increase as well as to leverage land purchase opportunities cons to conserve land for uh green spaces, parks, and public use. We will continue to maintain our financial stability by complying with the uh council's reserve policy for all of our major funds. Uh the next sess section will be an update regarding the city's millage rate and property tax trends. uh doing a five-year stretch from fiscals uh 2021 through 2025, uh the city experienced year-over-year growth um above 12%. In the past two years, we have um seen a percent the percent growth moderately uh decrease. So, we're still seeing um increases, but it's not as large as what we saw three years ago. For the upcoming fiscal year of 27, we are forecasting a similar decline in the change from year-over-year, and we are projecting an 8% change over the current fiscal year. At the forecasted 8% increase in taxable uh property values for the upcoming year, we estimate the total taxable value in the city to be 27.7 billion. Although in recent years, the city uh realized an annual average increase of about 16 and a half% over the past uh three years. building permits completions have declined and is on the same trend for this year. Therefore, our forecast uh for taxable valuation is conservative with an 8% increase in anticip anticipated advalorum revenue. We estimate realizing a revenue gain of $9.7 million um for total millage rate including the general fund, road and bridge um and debt service funds. The >> Okay. >> No. Okay. Uh the new revenue is due to uh construction and property appreciation. Uh the total revenue collection is estimated at $132 million. Uh this chart illustrates uh the city council's meeting its priority of reducing the millage rate for 10 consecutive years. Uh today we hope to receive direction from you on how we will move forward with the millillage objective as we plan um the next year's uh fiscal year budget. Uh moving on uh we will take a deeper look into fiscal year 2027's outlook. Uh our budget focus on the um upcoming fiscal year will be based on a conservative approach. Uh that is our theme for this year. Uh which will ensure that we are being fiscally um sustainability while considering um proposed state legislations. We will continue to prioritize city council's goals and address the priorities of the city's uh strategic plan. However, uh city service levels may be um impacted depending on the outcome of pinning legislation. We will also look at capital needs for uh the 10-year planning horizon, and we will continue to budget for debt strategies that are fiscally responsible. The general fund revenue is forecasted to increase um in taxable value by 8%. Uh this does include new construction. Uh the increase will generate $ 8.4 million in uh advalorum revenue. We anticipate a 4% increase um in growth for electric franchise and electric utility taxes. Uh 2% is being projected for the state revenue sharing, sales tax and communication service tax. Uh growth is the main driver of our um increase in revenue projections. Although we are being um relatively modest with those growth projections, our forecast uh for the next fiscal year does maintain the millage rate um at the current rate of 4.2991. Total revenues for the upcoming fiscal year for the general fund are projected to be $10.5 million. um higher than the projected revenues for the current year. Uh these this is an early uh projection and we will revise it as we have um better um data and as we receive information from the property appraisers office. The planning budget will continue to include funds for addressing uh public safety needs for a growing city, advancement of the parks and recreation master plan, uh expansion and maintenance needs for city infrastructure and facilities, and resources required to support internal service departments. At the current millage rate and projected growth of 8%, the projected total general fund advalorum revenue uh for the upcoming fiscal year is about $114 million. The sales tax revenue is projected to grow by 2% for a total revenue of $13.7 million. The electric franchise fee revenue is expected to grow uh by 4% generating 16.6 million of revenue. The state revenue sharing um is project projected at a 2% growth resulting in 8.5 million of revenue. Uh for the business tax, revenue um is expected to be modest um and generate $2.7 million of revenue. Uh new businesses in the city uh at the end of the first quarter in fiscal year 26. Um there were 463 new businesses in the city from October to December of 2025. The utility tax um electric revenue is projected to grow by 4% resulting in a total uh revenue of $23.3 million. Communications uh service tax revenue is projecting a 2% growth for a total of $6.8 million of revenue. Uh this long range plan for the general fund over the next five years starts uh with the current fiscal year of 2526 and it shows that projected revenues will come within budget uh for next fiscal year of 27. The plan assumes uh an 8% growth in taxable value followed by smaller growth in subsequent years. uh the use of reserves in um next fiscal year will be to fund u multi-year capital projects uh such as the um uh training facility and projects that have been funded by the American Rescue Plan uh act dollars which are due to be fully expended by the end of this calendar year. Uh the line where you see transfers uh those are from the uh special revenues and enterprise funds uh for programs that are supported by the general fund um functions such as uh IT, finance, um HR, budget and procurement. The operating millage rate is maintained at 4.2991. Uh and in summary, the designated uh reserve reflects council's recommended policy of 20% for each year. Uh that concludes uh the overview for the general fund. Um I will now turn the presentation over to Ivy Latico who will share um our forecasts and assumptions for the special revenues and the enterprise funds. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon, madame mayor, vice mayor, city council. I'll begin with a highle overview of key revenue sources including the halfs and sales tax, storm water fees, advalone revenue, and utility fees. These slides provide content of recent trends and current assumptions supporting the financial outlook. The halfsent sales tax early analysis for fiscal year 2027. The total revenues are projected to be 300,000 above projected revenues for fiscal year 2526. The halfsent sales tax expires in fiscal year 2829. We um are anticipating partial funding that year. The city and St. Lucy County staff are working act actively. I'm working on a potential extension of the Hassen sales tax for 10 years. If the extension is approved, the projected 10-year revenues total would be 174 million to support capital infrastructure projects. This graph depicts a 2% projected increase, a total of 15.3 million in fiscal year 2627. The road and bridge fund overview. The total revenues are projected to be 995,000 above the projected revenues for fiscal year 2526. The majority of the increase is due to the additional gas tax and abalorum taxes and then based on the increase in population. This fund is projected to deficit spend in multiple years in fiscal year 2627 2728 and 2829. The road and bridge advalorum revenue trend. Let's see. Um, it's a projected 8% increase for a total revenue of 9.6 for fiscal year 2627. That's a $700,000 increase. The road and bridge gas tax. The six cent portion, we're projecting a 2% increase, a total revenue of 7.4. That's an increase of 200,000. The road and bridge long range model the u millage rate is 0.3616 in fiscal year 2627. The revenue projection is 25,862,000. Uh the expenditure projection is 27170,000. Uh this fund will be deficit spending. uh the use of designated reserves will be required to to balance each year. Uh they will meet the re their requirement reserve of 17%. The storm water fund overview the early analysis for fiscal year 2027. The uh the review of the storm water fee complete was completed in fiscal year uh 2021. The public works is currently working on a new report which should be completed in March of 2026. The current level of service includes an approved six a $6 rate increase. Of course, that's contingent upon council approval. This nets over $1 million in additional revenues to support capital projects. Of course, this is uh supporting the debt for those capital projects. Uh the capital projects are Okamik, EA downstream repairs, Elcam Basin, Hogpen Slooh, and it's to accelerate the swale and covert replacement. The storm water um expenditures are outpacing the revenues. And again, uh, the storm water fee is going to produce an additional $1 million for a total of $32.3 million for fiscal year 2627. the long range model for um the storm water fee. We are projecting and of course this is um pending council approval a $6 rate increase for fiscal year 2627 2728 and 2829. The projected revenues for fiscal year 2627 is 47 million while the expenses are 48.2 million. And as you can see throughout the years um in fiscal year 29 this fund will not meet its required 17% reserves reserve policy. the utility systems uh fund overview, the early analysis for fiscal year 2027 that the the growth in the housing market continues to impact this fund's operations based on revenues and expenses. The UT utility department um completed a rate study uh five-year analysis and fiscal in 2024. The forecast includes a 3.5% rate increase if approved by city council and that will generate 1.9 million in additional revenue. Water and sewer projects are progressing at a significant cost. the utility systems water operating revenue trend. Again, it um the graph depicts a $1.9 million increase, a total of 56.7 million of revenue for water. The utility system sewer operating revenue trend, uh we um based on growth, we're projecting a 2% increase. uh collecting $62 million in revenue for 2627. The utility system fund long range model uh 2627 uh the fund is balanced but we we will be using reserves to fund capital projects such as Glades wastewater treatment plant and Rangeline reverse osmosis water plant. the building fund overview. Um the building permit applications completed. This is certificate of occupancies. You can see that uh the high of fiscal year or 2022 this is a calendar year was 4,848 cos versus in 2025 we had um so we are decreasing 3,217 cos the building department uh fee revenue trend we had a high of 18.4 million in fiscal year 22. We're pro projecting a 10% decrease over fiscal year 2526 for a total of revenue of $9.5 million. The solid waste fund the early analysis for fiscal year 2627. the residential and commercial growth will will continue to impact the fund's operations uh their revenues and expenditures. There is a projected um 4% increase per contractual agreement agreement with FCC Environmental. The CPI for garbage and track trash collection is 4.8%. This is as of January 2026. Uh the graph here shows the 4% increase. Um we'll be collecting $43 million in fiscal year 20627 if the 4% is approved. Cross Town um Parkway debt service fund overview. the early analysis for fiscal year 2027 and the current fiscal year uh 2526 the the current millage rate is 0.3143 the projected revenues this year is $7.7 million. We will not meet the um we will not have enough money to pay the debt of 8.2 million. So we're dipping into reserves of 500,000 to make that payment. In fiscal year 2627, the forecast um based on the current millage rate of 0.3143, uh it's estimated that we'll gain 619,000 based on that 8%. We will will collect $8.4 million. The debt payment is $ 8.4 million. The final debt pay service payment for uh the fiscal the 2325 bonds is scheduled for July 1st, 2035. So that's when that debt will be paid off. >> So we won't be lowering that mill anymore. >> No. The cross town debt service advalorum revenue trend again we're projecting an 8% increase. It will generate $8.4 million in revenue. The mobility impact fee overview. So, uh we used to call it uh the road and it was the road and bridge impact fee and we changed it in fiscal year 21 calling it mo the mobility fees. You can see in fiscal year 22 there was a a collections of $1.7 million. That was the high. Uh this year we're projecting 4.5 million in revenue and we are decreasing that by 10% with a revenue collection of $4.1 million for fiscal year 2627. So you can see the decline. So that will impact the amount of money that we can bond for future projects. >> Correct. >> Yes, ma'am. >> We need to be very mindful of that. >> The building impact fee revenue trend. Uh again, we're we're going to collect 700,000 uh for fiscal year 2627. That's a 10% decrease over fiscal year 2526. Uh we do have in reserves uh roughly $1.4 million and then of uh the collection of 2526 of almost 800,000. Our balance at the end of the year should be roughly $2.2 million. the parks impact fee revenue trend. We're uh anticipating another 10% projected uh decrease a collection of $2.8 million for uh fiscal year 2627. So just as an aside and for the public, these slides specifically show how or the fact that although we collect the impact fees, right? And we're capped at what we can collect uh how they don't even come close to building the infrastructure and the parks and everything that we need to get done for our growing city. So once again, this shows that growth does not pay for itself. >> Oh, chime in. Absolutely. Uh, Madame Mayor, uh, yesterday we saw presentations and we saw actual dollar numbers, right? So, we saw um I think it was um utilities for uh not utilities, I'm sorry, public works when they had a slide that showed their um public works building. Uh, that one came in at $28 million. Uh when the um police uh did the presentation on uh theirs, we saw the police training facility when uh Roger was up. That building was $28 million. So that right there can just kind of give you a quick overview of what these capital projects are coming in at. I might as well mention uh uh parks and recreation. I think we also saw the numbers for uh tradition. >> Uh so and that was another 27 28 million as well. Uh so we definitely see that the capital projects are coming in significantly higher than what we're collecting in the impact fees. >> Yeah. And so as we're going through the presentation and we do see uh the slight increases in the funds, right? The 2% and 4% >> my mind automatically goes to what we talked about yesterday which was all the capital projects that we got to have to get done or our plan to get done that are necessary. And necessary is very different than want right there. they're necessary and how the numbers of these increases don't even come close to even what one project cost in order to get done. So, just something to keep in mind as we're continuing our proc thought process and also how we're communicating, you know, with our residents about, you know, what our budget looks like and what the costs look like. Mary, did you have something? Madame Mayor, um council, I did want to put on your radar that um next year it will be time for us to begin looking at updating the parks and law enforcement impact fees again. So, they're not keeping pace and they seem to be decreasing, but also they're about to expire. So, we'll be revisiting those. >> Thank you. >> And Madame Mayor, just like you said earlier, um this is almost like a perfect storm. you have a decrease in the revenues coming in but an increase on your overall capital of all your overall um CIP cost right >> so really you know how do you differentiate the different projects and what's the priority of certain projects and going through the list that we're going through yesterday that's the struggle is well you know we know we have certain dollar amount but when your impact fees can't support a bond or you do really don't have a true um revenue source that you can count on every year. That's where the struggle becomes. >> Madame Mayor, just >> Yes. >> In addition, um next year we will also have to renegotiate the interlocal agreement with the county on mobility fees, right? >> And you may have seen on your calendars that staff, city manager's office and staff will be meeting with you to uh regroup on mobility fees since we're going to have to begin that process with the counties soon. Yes, it's a long process. So, we do have to get a jump on it, >> right? Notification has to be sent to them, I think, by September or November of this year from the city manager's office. >> Okay, Madame Mayor. >> Yes. I mean, since we're on the topic of fees, I was going to wait for all my comments at the end, but as we continue these conversations, I just think it's it's really important for us to recognize that while raising impact fees and park fees and all these fees associated to growth is difficult, it's not popular. This is individuals that are creating impact to the city and they're creating new impact to the city. We are going to be built out in the very near future. I know that this seems like a long way away, but the truth is look at how fast we grew over time. And you only have one time and one opportunity to collect the impact that someone is creating in your community by the growth of them coming here. And when you don't collect the right amount, it comes out of the general taxpayers and it comes out of the general fund and you're squeezed even further. And that's I'm sorry. I can't help but think about it. That's where we're at. Um because we're I I mean we're not charging enough for our fees. That's that's the like we have to charge for the amount of growth that we've had. We have to charge more for fees. and it's not popular, but at the same time, if someone's moving into our community, they need to pay their fair share of the impact that they're making because it's not fair for all the taxpayers that are having to carry that load. And to to your point, going back to earlier slides, road bridge fund deficit spending as soon as 27, that's not a good sign. Storm water If we think road and bridge is not too great when you look at the numbers in storm water, it's a lot worse. And it's because of the cost of all these projects in order to get them done. But we have to get them done because we have aging infrastructure and things have to be replaced and maintained and expanded and those all come at a very high cost. >> I don't know what happened. If we don't keep up with our storm water and we start having more flooding issues and we're not addressing our coverts and we're not addressing our our our swale systems, then we're going to have issues with flooding. We're going to have issues that could be substantially more problematic andor catastrophic to our residents than what it looks like in terms of uh having to pay for these things. And if if the Oakamik project isn't a perfect example of that where we have, you know, school buses that are halfway underwater and our residents have been saying, "Fix this. Fix this." Well, this fix is a $35 million project. And that is an astronical astronomical amount of money. And it's hard to believe, but that's the reality of what it is. So, >> I just have one more slide before I hand it over to Caroline. The police impact fee revenue trend. Again, it's a 10% uh projected decrease. We're uh anticipating collecting 1.1 million in um dollars in revenue for fiscal year 2627. Thank you. >> Chief, how much does a bulletproof vest cost these days for one new officer? uh between $1,000 and $1,200. >> How much does a Glock or their their weapons that they use now cost for each officer? >> About 600. >> Exactly. Thank you. >> Not to mention all the other equipment that they have on their body and all the equipment that has to go into our patrol cars. >> Yep. The vehicle and the equipment for a car. I think patrol is like over $100,000. So when you do that, you add everything else that you just mentioned, you're at about $150,000. So even if we're bringing on about 10 new officers because um this impact fee revenue here helps pay for outfitting um and equipping the officers, 10, you're already at a net different uh a net deficit at 150,000 by bringing in 10 and you're only collecting 1.1 million. >> Right. >> Good exercise. And they can only be used for new >> correct >> capital, not for reoccurring capital. Correct. Not for maintenance issues. >> No. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, my job will um summarize what we have heard so far in the past hour uh as we begin planning for the next fiscal year. City staff uh has evaluated and will continue to evaluate various economic indicators um at the state uh national and local levels. We are also uh monitoring the state legislative session and pending bills that may impact um our budget and the level of services that we can provide for the upcoming fiscal year of 27's uh planning budget. Um we will be conservative conservative um as I mentioned earlier on uh that is our theme. Uh revenue assumptions um are based on current trends. We do have um uh three months worth of data um for fiscal year 26 being from October October through December. So that's what we're using to assume what we anticipate collecting next year. Um our expenditure forecasts, we are planning um to keep those flat. Uh the only thing that we're not going to keep flat are um are any contractual obligations that mandate that we have a certain um increase such as we saw solid waste. uh solid waste, we do have a contractual obligation with them. When we look at the uh CPI for um trash and garbage collection, it's at 4.8%. Um but the maximum um per our contract is 4%. So that is just an example of uh the one areas um for the expenditures where we may um veer off from um planning it at a flat level. uh the general fund our um estimate is to maintain the millage rate um at its current rate of 4.2991. Uh this does include the assumption of an 8% growth in taxable value uh for new construction as well as property appreciation. Uh and we will also continue to um reserve um uh debt um set aside debt reserves for the future uh debt reduction. the road and bridge uh millage rate um our assumption is to maintain it at its current rate of 0.36 uh16. Uh the storm water fund includes a pre-approved rate increase of uh $6 to support uh the Okamik watershed improvements uh elam basin improvements and other capital um investments. Our estimate of course is early and will be contingent upon um council's final approval. The utility systems fund uh we are um assuming a 3 and 12% increase for water only uh that is subject to council's approval as well. The Cross Town Parkway uh debt service fund um is projecting uh a growth of eight um percent which will generate uh sufficient revenues uh to cover the debt payment of $8.4 million. The uh building fund is um forecasting a um 10% decrease in permit permit fee revenue. Uh this is due to a decline in construction of new residential and commercial properties for the solid waste fund. Um the uh fiscical year 27 rate uh will be adjusted to factor inflation and increase um operating cost. Uh this slide captures a summary of uh revenues for the general fund, road and bridge, cross town parkway debt, uh utility system, and storm water. We are assuming uh modest increases in these categories which are um tied to the continued growth that we're seeing in in the city. Uh advalorum taxes at an increase of 8% will generate 9 uh.9 million in new revenue. uh utility water increase at three and a half% will generate $1.2 million of new revenue and um a storm water fee increase of $6 will generate $1 million in new revenue. Um all developer um impact fees are projecting a 10% decline uh due to uh construction activity slowing down uh for a total reduction um in revenue uh by $2 million. The half cent sales tax growth is projected at uh 2% for $299,000 uh for expenditure. Some of the flat adjustments uh that we are including in our planning um forecast includes parks and recreation operating costs uh to support the new parks um that will be opening within the next year. Uh police new operating expenses for building B, maintenance contract increases for road and utility infrastructures. Um this list is a sample but it is not comprehensive of all of the um items that we are planning for. With that being said, uh we do have several um priority projects that are um unfunded. Uh considering some of our future road projects and transportation, we did have a very robust conversation during the um public works um portion yesterday, so we don't have to repeat that. uh stormwater capital projects, uh parks and recreation uh 10-year master plan, uh the maintenance and expansion of public buildings and infrastructure and the uh staff that's necessary to support the uh increased demands um of a growing city. Uh that brings us to our conclusion. So we have shared um a lot about our budget strategy for the upcoming fiscal year. uh appreciate the comments that we've heard from council. Um now at this time um there's two things that we would like to um ask of you. Uh number one is um are there any priorities that we did not um discuss during our budget presentation that we should be considering? Uh and then the second item um we would like direction from council on is that we have recommended um all of the millage rates uh remain flat and so we would like to receive direction from council on how do we move forward with um our millillage objective um as we plan the budget. >> Okay. Thank you. So with the first one, council, are there any additional priorities that you could think of that have not been discussed in this presentation? >> No, I'll have other comments, but not priorities. >> Okay. >> You have comments on this? >> I have other comments. >> Other comments in general, but not I don't have any additional priorities. >> All right. So then let's So we're good on that. Um All right. So let's have a discussion with regard to military objectives. Who would like to start? Someone start. Okay, vice mayor, you start. Um, this is this is just it's it's um it's an interesting time that we all live in right now. It's an interesting discussion that's taken place and then it's an interesting reality of what we're facing as a city all at the same time. Um, you know, I want to be responsive and more importantly, I want to be obedient to the people that that um that are our residents, people that we serve. And that's I think out of the conversation and I'm not asking for sympathy but I think out of the conversation the thing that's most disheartening about the the discussion of property taxes and the importance of local government um has been that you know at the end of the day we're we we are trying to operate I I can't speak for all 411 cities and I'm not going to trash any of them because that's not my place either. Um, but I do know that this city, the city that I live in, the city that I've lived in my whole life pretty much runs amazing. I mean, and is despite the recession that occurred, despite the housing boom, I mean, I wish people that would make um discussion points about this would understand the history of our city, the boom that occurred. We were the number one growing city in the nation in the early 2000s. And then the decline that occurred and the impact of that decline that we're still feeling. People may not believe it. They may not like to hear it. That decline, we still have ramifications in our budget and in our service level and in our staffing and in our projects more than 20 years later. There's still impacts from that decline that we're feeling today. It I do want I mean I'm always Mr. City Manager going to ask you to find a way to lower the millillage. That's without a question. I wouldn't be consistent in I wouldn't be doing what the public asks is to find a way to lower their millage. So by July we need to we do need to have that conversation of a tenth of a mill. What we've done what does that look like? How much is that out of the budget? how much is that out of the excess that's bringing in and then what projects are not going to be able to um to be completed. So I would still ask the city manager to provide that opportunity for council to have that discussion um in the July meeting and I think we go from there. So I would like to at least start where we always start. Next. >> The slide says it. >> The slide says it all. It's a first look. >> Yeah, we got doom and gloom. We know we knew coming into this that things are coming in higher. So, anticipate prices go up, right? So, obviously, I'd like to see the mill rate lowered. And I would ask you come back and present us with hey if we load a tenth tenth of a mill this is what this is where we're at because right now you you've given us you know you haven't given us anything to contrast and compare. That's that's what I ask Mr. city manager. >> Thank you. Next time in people. >> Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, um just a few thoughts that I've had um from throughout the the conversation. Um the first is um that I think, you know, it's been 10 years. We need to continue. We need to keep the streak alive. Um and continue. You know, when we started this, when we started this, the operating millage was 4.048. Today, it's 4.2991. So, we're still a quarter mill above where the operating millage was before the tax hike. And so if I had my way, as a matter of policy, assuming all things stay the same, we would continue the streak until the operating millage is below where it was before the tax tax was increased in 2015. Um I think on cross town um you know we're looks like we're going to collect as much as um as is the debt payment but I think we even have a little bit of room there because you know we're we're nearing the end and the reserve doesn't need to be as large as it is. So we can still do something nominal on on cross town. There was some talk about the impact fees being collected and and and they're they're going down. Um and it's important to remember as we make these decisions that even if we had raised the impact fees, they likely still would have the collection still would have went down because development would have slowed and we still we would have had the u the bad effects of higher housing costs and lower affordability. Um, and then I just want to caution everyone. It's important to monitor state legislation. It's important to monitor um, it's important to monitor what constitutional amendments may pass, but decisions today need to be based on the environment today. And if the structure changes, then as an organization, we we respond to the structural change. Uh I I remember one of the things that that's irked me throughout uh my local service is when I was on the county commission in 2018, I made decisions based on what might have happened and there was a proposed homestead additional constitutional amendment. The school district wasn't funding school deputies and the county was funding all the school deputies. The sales tax had failed in 2016 and they were worried it was going to fail in 2018. And I wanted to reduce what was the highest millage rate in the state just by a little bit. It was a 20th of a mill at the time. And everyone in the organization was saying you please don't do that 20th of a mill. All of this bad stuff is going to happen. And then amendment one failed. The sales tax passed. this the school board passed a one mill increase and took the the deputy funding responsibility away from the county. Property values went up. I was off the county commission and county commission didn't cut the tax rate. And so I say that we have to make decisions based on what what we're living in now. We'll we'll being mindful of what adjustments we might have to make um in the in the future, but I wouldn't want to make decisions based on um Armageddon coming and and then Armageddon never comes. So, those are my thoughts. Thank you. >> Thank you, Stephanie. >> Oh, I could almost say ditto. So, I look at this and I I hear everything we've got. We've got so many projects. We've got the flooding over here. We've got traffic over here. We've got lights over here. We have storm water going up. Water and sewer going up. Solid waste going up. Street lighting, which I think we skipped over. Um, street lighting going up. Um, when we go out for bids, it's a lot more expensive. Everything is bread, steaks, my ribe eyes, um, everything is. But what do you do? You adjust your budget. You adjust your budget at home. I treat this as what I have to do at home and in my life. And Anthony, thank you so much for saying that because we can't we've got to live in the present and now, not thinking what if, what if, what if and what if never happens. None of us have a crystal ball. Um, we have to look at this and I would be I Yeah, I would like to see um the different rates at We've got to lower the millage. Um, everything else has gone up. You've got to kind of offset it a little bit. Uh, I this would be me working on my home budget. So, I cut my budget in in places that probably hurt or if I want new cabinets and it's just not in my budget because they cost too much, I have to wait or save up. So, um, I'm all for another millage reduction. Um, and I would like to see a couple of different scenarios and uh, you know, it's we got to tighten tighten up and I I I hear the residents and I know that everything's out there and like you said, the roads, the traffic, the flooding. Um, but we need to prioritize the projects and pay for them as we go, what we can do. We know we can't do everything all at once, but we have to plan. >> Thank you. So, um, just with regard to Cross Town Village, I think it was stated that we're going to have to dip 500,000 into reserves and then next year is where we're going to meet the 8.4. We'll meet that funding. >> Correct. >> Okay. So um so I'm concerned about that of obviously once we get in revenues come July and we see what things look like. Um so for right now we can hold the line on that. So the the policy has been and what I know that I've shared with the residents is that we will look and see and every year and do what we can to continuously lower the rate if possible while still providing the level of service that we're able to provide for a growing community. my stance on that has not changed and um I think a lot of things are in the air but also think it's really important to see when we do make our final decisions in July what's happening at the time looking at our revenues last year we projected a revenue it came in lower initially lower than we thought from the property appraiser but then when we got the final certification numbers we had some extra funding and we were able to uh return some of that backs to the taxpayers. I don't see us doing anything different because that's been what we've been doing all along, but we have to do it incrementally in small increments. Um, also paying attention to what's happening, right? We don't know what's going to happen with property tax reform. We don't know if something's going to get on the ballot or not. We don't know if the Senate and the House are going to keep fighting and do nothing and then the governor is going to have to call special session after special session until you know July comes. And we don't know if even in the special sessions that the House and the Senate will take any action because although a special session is called, they don't have to take any action. They can just wait out the 21 days and keep waiting out until whenever they want to. So all these things are up in the air but we do need to make sure that we are getting the necessary projects done. I think we have done a very good job and our team has done a very good job at looking at what the priorities are. Um always putting the needs over the wants and also you know I know we're going to be looking at what is needed um in terms from staffing. I firmly believe that Jesus you will continue to take that conservative approach but let's be real where are we going to need it public safety aspect and again public safety is not just law enforcement look at all the projects we have with public works that have to get done all this infrastructure so the the the departments that um need the most help need to be prioritized and getting getting what they need the most um in order to get all these things done and but that's no different than what we've been doing. So, um taking that conservative approach is really important. Continuing to do what we do, we we wait, we learn, we evaluate and and we see what's happening. Uh and we'll have a much better picture of that come um June and July when we start getting those numbers in and we have our summer workshop. Um, and I also want to remind everyone, especially our residents, that when it comes to adding staffing and when it comes to looking at that that our city team or city manager doesn't take it lightly. We just don't add people for the sake of adding people. We just don't do it because it's a want. There's justifications involved and our departments have to meet rigorous tests through the executive team in order to be even approved for recommendations of the city council for those staffing approvals. And of course, we vote on that through our budget. Um, I know there's a lot of talk about, you know, adding employees and and and what do you do? And again, like uh vice mayor said, we can't speak to what other cities do and we're not even going to try, but we do these three-day workshops and we do these deep dives and we have these heavy uh weedfilled, if you will, conversations, getting into the weed somewhat when we need to. Um because it's important to our residents to understand that we go through these processes because we care because we know we want need to be fiscally conservative. We need to know we want to watch their dollars and and we plan accordingly. So I want to thank everyone. I know this is uh putting all this together is a lot of work. Um but uh we've been very successful at what we've done together as a team and as a community and I think we need to keep on keep on the path and keeping in mind of what may be coming ahead because um although we do have to work in the present if you don't focus on the future and what may happen and plan accordingly for that we could have problems later on. So, it it's a two-prong approach. So, thanks for that. So, and and and to the point about options, um we always get options um every July. We look at what our militants are and you guys always provide us options to look at. So, that's not again no different than what we we do every every single year to when we evaluating things. >> Any other final comments? >> Yes, madam mayor. >> Go ahead. So, um, I appreciate those comments and and that's and I think I keep hearing you say it, but I think we can't say it enough is this is what we do every year. Um, as far, you know, and I'm not, this is not a dig, Councilman Morgan, I'm just taking the statement because it's not just your statement, but I know residents make the statement we need to tighten our belts. I don't think there's been a year that I have served on this board that we don't walk into the conversation about tightening our belts. Um, because We've wanted to lower the millillage by a tenth of a mill every year. We want to continue to um be conservative. We've always been conservative in our budget. I appreciate the theme, but I mean I mean you could even say it, Caroline. When have we not been conservative in our budgeting practices? And and that's kind of where I think we need to focus on is there is going to be regardless of whether something has passed or not, there is going to be a conversation to be had and we need to be prepared for that conversation and we need to hear what has been said and what has been accused and what has been what has been factored, what numbers have been pulled, what stats have been provided that we are ready to respond to the public when we are asked where's Port St. Lucy in this situation. And so for your budget presentation, I know we did a video last year, which I think is great. I think it's great to still show that video of how we break down, but you brought up the GFOA in the beginning. Um, you know, we probably need to have a conversation whether it's by video or explaining the audit process, >> how the city is audited, who audits the city, how is it independent, how it's transferred to the state, how the state has the appro ability to look at our audit, um, how we how we receive these certificates and these recognitions for our budgeting process to ensure that we're in compliance. And what does that mean? Um the employee ratio ratio essentially was what Shanny even brought up. What is our ratio? All of this conversation that we've had um how do we look at waste? The number one tagline waste, fraud, and abuse. How do we look at waste in our city? How does a city manager evaluate waste and how does he cut it in his budget? Um is there fraud? Has there ever been fraud? We need to answer the question because this is this is the narrative and we have to be able to respond to the public and say, you know, your city not only is addressing this today has always made sure to address this and here's here's how we've done it. For example, the additional revenue. This isn't the first year we've had additional revenue. We've had additional revenue. What have we done with it? There's a story to be told in that additional revenue. I don't remember a time that we utilize that additional revenue to grow government in the city. Maybe other governments, not our government. We've usually use, I believe, most of that additional revenue in projects, project specific items. In fact, um, we've always been pushed by our city managers, you want to do this for one-time items only because that revenue may not be there. So, we don't try to spend that revenue on new employees or growth in staffing. We minimize that as much as possible and deal with projects that have been behind. And that's our story. I can't say that's a story for everyone else, but the public deserves to hear that story >> of what we've done with that money. Um, Madam Vice Mayor, uh, just as a reminder of a slide that, uh, was illustrated yesterday. I believe it was during the city manager's uh, presentation where he did a historical of, um, our budget uh, the operating in a capital and you could see right before the the preandemic, and I'll have uh, Kate uh, correct me if I misspoke. uh most of the budget was for operating and then when you advance it to this fiscal year you're seeing 30% of the budget is for capital projects. So we had all the the influx of um move people coming in right after the pandemic. So you saw the budget slowly grow for capital projects in response. >> Yeah. Yeah. And to to that point and perfect point because it's a capital project, it's in the capital improvement plan, >> but when the money's expend money, it goes into the budget and that gets left out of the conversation. Yes, you have them two separate, but >> you have to it goes into the budget and that's why a lot of times the budget increases because we're paying for those projects then out of the fund. And that's another misnomer about the not understanding how governmental accounting works and the rules that we have to follow through the GFOA, right? And the state statutes and in order to prepare our budgets >> and and I'll tackle on to that, right? So these we have these huge capital projects needs, right? So we've been identifying funding for capital projects, but it doesn't end there, right? Once these projects are delivered, you have annual operating maintenance costs that are associated with these projects that have been delivered. A roads project, you know, that needs to been maintained. We had a robust conversation on that yesterday. You roll out a park, we have parks that are opening, we need staff to staff those parks to be able to greet residents when they come and visit the parks. So, those are just quick um examples of the need of the capital dollars and then the um coinciding operating dollars that have to support these capital projects going forward. >> Yeah. And I think that slide if and it's important to I guess I I always go back to when I was a citizen what I knew about some of these terminologies in government making sure that as we have that discussion of in the budget explain to our residents what is a capital budget? What is that? what is it used for? What are the projects in there that we're looking at this year? But more importantly, your slide and being able to explain that whereas the city grew, we didn't grow in this this conception of growth of government, us as Port St. Lucy. We actually grew in our capital, which means that we invested mostly in our infrastructure. to say that there was no growth. Even the report I believe showed what was it $36 million, but I know we contribute that mostly to almost all the police department growth that we've done because safety has always been first priority for our city. Um, you know, then there's also the pre preeemption that occurs with revenue sources. Um, BU business tax is one of those. It's a nominal amount. Is it still moving? Do we know if it's still moving? >> Yes, it is. So, I'll give you the latest update today. So currently there's an there's a discussion of an abolishment of the business tax. And so and this is not the first fee that's been removed um to give us diversification of the fees to in order to continue to lower the millage rate. And that needs to be part of the conversation. And because of that, you know, I I do think that as we go through this budget season and not just this budget season, but future budget seasons, we need to be able to ask the question, do we begin to look at fees? I know we're evaluating fees, but do we begin to look at fees even more in a structure because the desire of the resident is to have maybe maybe are I guess that's the question I'm asking myself and I'm asking the residents. We've had an all-in-one fee as cities have all-in-one fees essentially. You have one one fee pays for everything. Pays for your parks, pays for your police, pays for all of your all of the amenities that you have in the city. Is it to that point where we as a city or cities in Florida need to start considering maybe that's not what the people that we serve want? Maybe it is they want their safety. They want their roads encompassed in their in their property taxes and other things fee based and those fees support those items in the community. Those are the conversations that I think we have to have going forward in this budget and future budgets. And then we can lower the mill rate millage rate more to balance that out um to be able to make sure that we're we're dealing with the shortfall for some of those items. But it's it's going to be a it's a very serious conversation. It's one that I'm not afraid to have, but I'm also not afraid to share our story because I really do believe that we have a really strong story to tell. Um, and I think that the only way that we we get we gain back the public trust hopefully over time that has been lost in this discussion is that they we tell that story and we tell our story and then where we can change and innovate we do. And it's not like I know it's not things that are different than before but I just really feel compelled that we always say we got to do better than yesterday. We got to go above and beyond. We've been doing it the whole time, but we still need to I'm going to still push you, Mr. City Manager and team, for more because the residents expect more and therefore I have to expect more. So, thank you. Yeah. And one final point just to add to the comment that you made, Julene, about what do we do with extra revenue? Yes, we put it towards projects, but we use it to reduce our millage rate. We use it to add the staffing that is needed. We use it to set aside more money for debt and we set aside more money for debt reduction. We do that every year so we balance it out so that we make sure that we're addressing all of those needs. And that is also part of the story that needs to be told. All the things that we do when we're going through this process in order to making sure we're covering all of our bases. Madame Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, um been sitting here, listened to everyone, staff, and the whole team. Um I can assure you you have a professional team here behind me and that we'll come back with a balanced budget and we'll take all your uh priorities in consideration and we'll bring back know like you all of you said is this is what we do every year. Do we have years a little bit tougher than others? Absolutely. But that is part of the process that that is exactly what we do. And when we come back, we'll provide you a balanced budget. Um are there going to be some directors or are going to be um hurt in the process? Absolutely. But that is the process. So we'll be back in the summer and you'll have a b balanced budget. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. I know we have to do the Garing Group presentation because they're here. >> Correct. Mayor, >> we'll end the day with that. And I do have an update on the local business tax if you would like that as well. The local business tax um thank you Sabrina Mloud has passed all um three committees. It's passed the House floor. It is in the Senate and has been referred to Senate appropriations. It's similar bill um Senate Bill 122 has passed a third of the committees is in the Senate finance and tax since December and has not moved. >> Say that last part again. >> Um the a similar bill has passed a third of its committees and is but hasn't moved since December from its last committee stop. >> Okay, that's >> yeah. So it's definitely moving in the House but not as much as in the Senate. Thank you. >> All right. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council. Natalie Cabrera, human resources director. This afternoon's presentation provides an overview of our self-funded health plan, including claims performance, current industry trends, excuse me, current industry trends, cost mitigation strategies, and how our plan compares to similar public entities. We will also review our projected timeline as we move into 2026. As health care costs continue to rise nationwide, our focus remains on responsible plan management, long-term sustainability, and keeping employee contributions as reasonable as possible while maintaining competitive benefits. At this time, I'll turn it over to our employee benefits consultant, Dustin Keane of the Garing Group, to walk the through the agenda and provide you with the analysis. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Uh Dustin Keane, senior benefit consultant VP with the Garing Group. Thank you for taking the time to uh listen to my presentation today. Sorry that you have to end your day on insurance. Um but I'll try to make this uh short and sweet. Um so give you a quick overview of the Garing Group. We're actually part of Brown and Brown now, which is a large organization. This is happened um last year. Uh we've been the employee benefits consultant for the city since 2011 on the entire employee benefits package that you offer your membership, medical, dental, vision, your clinic, disability, etc. Uh we have a lot of experience in your local area. Uh we are also the consultant on St. Lucy Fire, the sheriff, the tax collector, Martin County, Martin Sheriff, etc., etc. Um and we have over 30 years plus in the public sector space. Um what you have what you have here on this slide is the full team that services the city. Um a full breath of consulting, analytics, account management, legislative compliance, graphics, wellness coordination as well as uh Bentech, which is your open enrollment and eligibility technology. So a quick overview on your plan. You are self-insured. What that means is for your health plan, you hire a TPA, which is Florida Blue, to administer your plan. Um, they handle the network of providers, the discounts, the eligibility, the plan design, etc. Uh, they also provide the PBM, your pharmacy benefits through Prime, which is a subsidiary of Florida Blue. And the city pays those claims as they are incurred every month uh by your membership. Um, lastly, you do implement stop-loss insurance, which protects the plan up to $500,000 per claimant. Anything over that is reimbured back to the city. From a historic performance perspective, um, your trend has actually been beating the the the the normal trend by about half. So if we look back since 2014, your average increase in costs have been 5.34% where the average industry trend is 11%. So kudos to you and your your team and all of the great programs that um your staff and the city has put in place. So looking back at the last couple years um 2023 24 your trend was actually flat. um you ended the year off at a $ 1.7 million surplus. This past this past plan year, your claims went up 5.6% and you ended up at a $2 million surplus. And we see average enrollment year-to-year go up from about 3 to 5% per year. Um we do have a data analytics system where we get all of the claims experience from Florida Blue into our data analytics system. We can slice and dice the data in any which way. uh possible. We provided some slides here just so you can kind of get a feel of your claims experience mix. So period one through five that's year one, two, three, four, five, the past five years. Diabetes continues to be the number one diagnosis of your plan. That is typical for all of the plans that we consult for. You see the commercials, the Eurompics, your Monaros, right, etc. Those costs continue to go up. The good news is when we see a lot of pharmaceutical usage for this uh category, it means your employees are staying compliant, which means less uh complications and ER visits, psoriasis, number two, pregnancies, immuno deficiencies, and heart disease. Uh number five, regarding your prescription utilization, um you'll see there on the left hand side, the yellow is the brand name prescription usage. So, uh, those are the costs that keep going up yeartoear. Um, generics, which it goes through your clinic, which is great. You get almost 90% generic prescription utilization. Those are the less costly, but those brandame prescriptions continue to go up year after year. So, we concentrate on those heavily to to to figure out how to bend the curve in inflation. On the right hand side, you'll see the specialty medications. These treat your high-cost diagnosis. They make up about 50% of the total um pharmaceutical spend. So these are your your your big ticket items from an industry standard I mentioned before right 10 to 12% is the average year-to-year increase. These are all the factors why. But just to kind of give you the highlights of the main reasons why health care keeps going up yeartoear not just in this area but throughout the nation. Um, one, you have hospital systems getting larger and renegotiating their costs with the carriers. We're seeing that big time in your area and throughout the state right now. Um, number two is cost of medications continue to go up. GLP1s, weight loss meds, right? We hear about these, they keep going up. And third is aging population. Um, as we age, we need more care and costs go up proportionately. So, what are we doing to bend the cost? Right? you know, we're we're fighting this year to year. Uh we meet with your team quarterly, if not sometimes monthly. Um they are fantastic to work with and extremely knowledgeable and and keep keep the our toes to the fire. So, we constantly uh work with with work with your team on programs. The health center is by far one of the best programs you have in place currently. Um we're averaging an ROI of about 2.7 to one um sometimes 3:1 ROI. um we're able to capture usage in a clinic where basically you're getting care on a wholesale level. Anything we capture in that clinic versus elsewhere through your health plan um is at a lower cost setting and we're able to increase your preventative care as well. So there's a lot of good synergies going on there. Um and for your membership that are enrolled, they pay $0 to go to the clinic and zero dollars for prescriptions. Your wellness program is also um best-in-class. Um this is something that we offer year-toear. Um employees can get up to $500 by meeting um this menu of targets. If they don't meet these targets, there are alternative programs through your clinic that they can participate in in order to get that incentive. Um so this has also been very impactful um to your overall claims. Life scan is another one. Um this isn't something we see in a lot of our uh clients offering to your employees which is a full scan and anything that is found um they can then uh take that to a doctor um and get treated. Regenex is something we we offered in 2022. Also something very innovative the city is offering. Um they offer PRP stem cell treatment, non-surgical treatment to use the body's own cells to heal certain body parts, backs, knees, ligaments, etc. And when we did the study on what that is doing in terms of the city's costs, um you're getting about a 1.7 to1 ROI and a 66% reduction in surgical spend in the in in the first year alone. Um amongst that we also have plan design changes that we have to make yeartoear which also helps bend um that curve in inflation. Prescription is a big one. Uh you hear about that everywhere right now. Um current administration is looking at this heavily. There's a lot of laws coming out, not only on the state level, but the federal level. We'll continue to monitor this as it's changing every month. Um, but when we look at your RX rebates, these are rebates that come back to the city and it's based upon your brand and specialty medication usage. As you can see, um, in 2021 is $921,000. Now, this year, we're estimating about $3 million. This is money that comes back to the city to help lower your costs for the city and employees. So, this is something we continue to negotiate in addition to higher brand and generic RX discounts. Um, the other uh method that we use to to reduce cost is go out to RFP. This is just a good practice to market check to keep your carriers in check and honest as well as, you know, research the market to see if there's any better deals. We are currently out to bid right now for your medical and prescription. So, we are doing a full analysis of medical and prescription carriers to bring forth to the city the best option. >> Can you tell us what the timeline is on that? >> Yes, I actually have a timeline um in a few slides and we can go over that. Great question. Yeah. >> Um just to look back since 2017, these are all of the RFPs that we have handled. So, been very busy throughout the years. um anywhere from just doing supplemental clinic disability but also market checks. So every few years on the medical side we have been doing market checks including this year um as well. Next few slides what we did was we looked at some neighboring entities and did a benchmark survey of how your plan compares to some of your local entities. Uh we used we used St. Lucy uh fire St. Lucy Sheriff, the school district, U, Martin County, and St. Lucy County in our analysis. Um, I'll kind of summarize this slide, but wherever you see a red, that means your plan is better. Anywhere you see a blue, that means their plan is better. So, you can see generally you see a lot of red, meaning the city's plan overall is much more comprehensive um than your your neighboring entities. If we kind of summarize that here in this slide, you'll see on the left is your base plan, your buy it plan, how that compares to the benchmark for your deductible, what you fund into a health reimbursement account, and the out-of- pocket maximums on your plan. You'll see the city of Port St. Lucy's benefits are well below um the benchmark. So what you offer your employees is very competitive um which helps with your overall recruitment and retention of employees from a cost perspective as well. When we look at that you'll see one tier um is slightly above the benchmark for your base plan. However, generally for every tier and and both plans your employees are paying less than all of those entities that we included in this study. Something else to note, 82% of your enrollment is in that traditional plan, aka your buyout plan. So when you concentrate on that plan alone, not only is the plan design better, but your costs are are also um much better as well. >> So all the other entities have these same tiers. So is it is this apples to apples? >> Yeah. So we normalize this. So some some entities have two tiers, some have four tiers. And what I mean by that is the city has employee only. employee only plus spouse, employee only plus child and family. Those are four tiers. Some entities have three tiers. So they'll just have employee only, employee plus one, and then employee plus two or more dependents. So we normalized it a bit so we could account for that spread. So we kind of converted everything into a four tier system. Um, and I think maybe the second part to your question, um, is most plans do have two plans, a base and a buyout. I think there was only one entity in the benchmark that only offers one plan. So timeline, um, just to give you kind of a overview of all of your lines of insuranceances, um, we're concentrating on stop-loss, medical, prescription, your EAP program. um this year as their renewals are expiring. Um but we're also keeping track of when your contract expires on the other lines of coverages as well um in the next few years. So we expect to finalize um your current RFP process for your medical and prescription um by the beginning of June. Um, and that includes presentation to staff on your the initial RFP responses. That includes shortlisting the vendors, negotiating best and final, presenting everything to your staff and coming back to council in mid June uh with a recommendation for a final decision and then that way we can back up into your open enrollment in August for an effective date of October 1st, 2026. Okay, >> and that is all I have. I'll open it up to any questions that you may have. >> I got a question. It's going back to the slide nine on historical performance for 23 and 2024. What is it says show surpluses? What does that actually mean? So the surpluses are your premium equivalents and where they're set times your enrollment and where the actual expenses came in. So in these two years um basically for 2023 2024 your premium equivalents were set at X I don't have those numbers um in front of me times your enrollment and your basically your funding on your premium equivalents are $1.67 67 million higher than the total expenses that came out of your self-insured plan. >> So, we had more money left over in the medical fund. >> Correct. >> So, help me understand, Natalie, the rebate system that we have because I don't last year if we had surpluses and and maybe I'm understanding this wrong. The agreements that we have is that if we have surpluses, we're giving back portions to the employees. But the last two years there were memos saying that there was no surpluses. And I'm asking this because I know that there's well there's employees in the room and there's a lot of other employees watching. So I just want to make sure that you know when we put out a memo and say there's there was nothing there's nothing left to split then that's the case because this may look this looks a different way. So, I'm going to need Caroline's help on that because Caroline is the one that determines whether there's a rebate or not, >> right? Okay. So, yeah, we need to understand that because I'm sure everyone's wondering. >> Uh, sure. Absolutely. And council, we may have to uh follow up with you because I don't have all of the details with me, but I can let you know our process is we look at actuals and we're doing our actuals uh based on a fiscal year. Uh so we look to see what are the claims that actually come in to um our um records. It's showing as far as what we collected from employees and what the uh claims what we actually paid out uh our budget and it's also based on what we are budgeting. So may have to do the reconciliation with Garing Group to see um because they may be having a a surplus but I'm not sure if that surplus ties to what we actually budget. So that's what our um rebate program is based on is based on budgeting. We budget x amount of dollars and if we pay less than what we've budgeted then we would return it back to employees because our budget is based on this is what we're going to be collecting out of um employees bi-weekly paychecks. uh if our actual claims end up being more than what we budgeted, which in the past couple of years we have had to dip into the reserves to pay that. So that may be the um discrepancy with budgeting versus how they're determining um performance. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's based on budget. >> Yeah. And if I may, I'm sorry. If I may piggyback on um what you were saying, what we track is the premium equivalence, which is what the actuary sets times your enrollment. That might be different than the budget that that you all are tracking for that rebate program. >> And that's fine. It's just when you show certain things on a slide, >> understood. >> People are going to read it a certain way and we have to make sure that we are being very open and transparent in relaying what the information means to our employees. >> So, sure. And madame mayor, I can further elaborate on that. Right. So, our budget um uh for example, last year, I'm going to use round numbers, we had 1,400 employees. So, we budget that we're going to collect x amount of dollars from all of those 1,400 employees. However, I can also tell you that we have a vacancy rate that ranges from 10 to 11%. So, when a position is vacant, we're not collecting any premiums because nobody is working in that position. So there's a gap right there in the budgeting mechanism. So I hope that was clear enough. Happy to further elaborate if necessary. >> All right. I just want to make sure especially um >> well I know I know how conversations go. I know what the perceptions are out there. I know what can be said and often would be said and also would be spread. So again, it's just really important to make sure we're being open and transparent and and providing that understanding um to everyone. So especially when we're um talking about our medical insurance, which I know that everyone is concerned about all the time about costs going up and then how much that affects their bottom line in their own daily lives. All right. So, we're going out to bid for medical and prescription this year, >> correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Shane, I just have one question. >> Yeah, of course. >> Um, I know you may not know this answer, but I just read the headline. I never read the follow-up. Has Florida Blue and Cleveland Clinic come together on an agreement, or is that still pending? >> Still pending. Yeah, we're watching that one closely, and we know that's a big uh network in your area. So >> once we get some updates on that, we'll communicate it. >> And how will that determine in I mean I guess how will that factor in the RFP process? >> So the timing hopefully they come to an agreement in the next few months, which sometimes it does go to the last minute. I think May 1st is the potential term date. Um I would say first of all 90% of the agreements come to an agreement. I know Cleveland Clinic is asking for um an increase in their fees and Florida Blue as your fiduciary has to fight back and try to get the lowest increase possible. So that's ongoing, but once we get updates, we'll let you know. Um in the RFP, we do look at network disruption per every carrier that responds. So we look at all of your utilization, all the providers that they've used in the past 12 months, and we have them say, are they in your network or not? So, we we are going to evaluate Florida Blue, but we're also going to evaluate every other carrier. So, in case they don't come to an agreement, um we'll have some other options to >> to uh to look at. >> Yeah. Just as long as we have other options. I mean, with the with the city our size, it's hard to get medical care as is. And then if you're limited to only one hospital group, uh you know, it would be difficult to to get people in. So, just want to make sure. >> Yeah, I definitely agree. and every single entity in your area except for a couple have Florida Blue so it is Florida Blue's best interest to to make this happen which you know we're heavily trying to help out. >> Just to comment on the plan you know um team Garing Group I know that we've been working with you for a long time. Um great job on keeping cost down and I think a lot of that is based upon like you said the programs we have for for people that don't know we we have a weight loss program. We have a stop a sensation smoking program. We have many programs that we do to encourage our employees to be as healthy as possible. Um we provide incentives if they're getting all their lab works done um and getting their checkups the way they're supposed to. And all of that equates to the lower cost which again transfers to the taxpayers when we're keeping costs low even on the insurance side for our residents um for our for our employees. Um but I just I know that the that that's not easy and I mean we see that with when we compare to other um agencies and so kudos to you guys but then also kudos to our staff to also participating in those programs and to stay healthy. So thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> And vice mayor we had 520 employees last year participate in the wellness program. So that is but 43% as of when we measured last year. >> It's going to be a we should have like a cool goal like every year where we try to >> increase that >> that percentage by a certain you know portion because >> I mean ultimately it's easier to fix something when we catch it early than it is to deal with it when it's major. So >> thank you. >> And with regard to our clinic, is that out going to be out for RFP this year? Correct. I apologize. That has already gone out for RFA that was released >> two days ago. >> Yeah, >> two days ago. Okay. >> And was that with keeping our current providers that everyone likes so much? >> That is the goal. >> Okay. It's hard to have long-standing doctors in this day and age where people have had their same physician and so I know that the physicians and or the and the medical providers in our clinic are highly valued by our employees. So, uh, I really hope that that is a priority as we're moving forward in this process because, uh, I think it would be very detrimental if there was a major change in that way. Agreed. Thank you. All right. Uh, we're done for today. Tomorrow, we'll come back in the morning and then, uh, get started on parks and wreck and the Saints golf course update. Everyone, have a good evening.